


21st Century Princess

by Margheritepizza7



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: CEO, F/M, Fluff, Historical, Reverse Harem, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Smut, Sweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-10-15 13:44:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 63,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17529827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Margheritepizza7/pseuds/Margheritepizza7
Summary: I am a Korean princess from the Joseon Dynasty in the 17th Century and somehow, I have ‘time-travelled’ to 21st century Seoul after running away from my marriage ceremony because I didn’t want to marry my handsome, stuck-up fiancé (who is also a toe-rag): Prince Jongin.When I arrive in Seoul in the year 2019, I meet Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun, three young office workers at a big company. Then I meet their boss/best-friend, Mr Byun Baekhyun. And I have to say, men in the future really are so, so handsome and…what was it? Oh yes…and incredibly sexy…





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!! Here is my new reverse harem story!! Yay! I hope you enjoy!! I love you all!! <3333
> 
> This story can also be found on AFF under my pseud: Margheritepizza17.

****

 

 

Present day, Seoul, South Korea, 2019.

 

 

Chanyeol’s Friday morning had been the absolute worst, first of all his stupid car decided that it didn’t want to start up after thirty minutes of trying to find the issue, (apparently, he had no oil) and stupid Jongdae and Sehun left early again so he couldn’t get a ride.

And after spending all that time trying to find the issue with his stupid car, he had gotten his white shirt dirty, so he had to rush up to his apartment and get a fresh, new one.

However, it didn’t stop there…Chanyeol nearly lost his wallet (until he realised it was in his back pocket all that time). And because he couldn’t get a ride, his only option was to get the bus to work.

Chanyeol hurries down the street, briefcase in hand as he glances at the time on his watch. He didn’t have long to get to work on time.

_Stupid, shitty roommates for being early!_

When he reaches the bus stop, he catches his breath and an old lady who is stood nearby, moves away from him in disgust.

Chanyeol frowns at the old lady, having noticed the look on her face, then he looks down; his fly is undone!

_Fucking shit!_

Awkwardly, Chanyeol turns away to zip up his trousers. He is so embarrassed that the tips of his large ears are now ablaze. He apologises to the old lady and avoids eye contact, but still she looks at him disapprovingly.

_Well, this is awkward._

Soon enough, the bus arrives and the old lady pushes in front of Chanyeol and gets on the bus before him.

Chanyeol clucks his tongue at the rude old lady, however he doesn’t say anything because he was a decent human being and he was raised to treat old ladies with respect, even if they acted like wizened, old harridans.

Chanyeol gets on the bus after the wrinkly harridan and gets out his wallet, which was all change. The other occupants on the bus sigh at him as he piles mounds of change into the bus driver’s hand. After a while, Chanyeol finally had enough change to pay for a ride to the office.

All the seats are taken on the bus, so Chanyeol has no choice but to stand up and hold onto the pole along with hordes of rowdy high school children with their bulbous rucksacks.

Then the bus pulls away from the curb and drives down the street.

Chanyeol glances down at his watch and sees that he has exactly fifteen minutes to get to work on time. He swears to himself, willing the shuddering and clunking bus to go faster. He has a very important presentation at work to prepare for today and he would need to show it in front of his boss and his associates.

Chanyeol quickly whips out his phone and calls Jongdae—his colleague and shitty roommate who left early this morning—telling him that he might be late and if necessary, to start the presentation without him. 

“What do you mean you’re late? They’re already gathering in the room!” Jongdae whisper-yells.

“A lot of things happened, my car doesn’t work, and you and Sehun left early again!” Chanyeol says through gritted teeth. “Why couldn’t you have just waited half an hour more so that I could hitch a lift?!”

Jongdae sighs loudly. “You knew that I had to drop off a parcel for my mother before work! That’s why I left early, and your lanky ass was still asleep at that time. We tried to wake you as well.” Jongdae retorts with a huff and Chanyeol knows that that vein in his friend’s jaw must be ticking right now. “We’ll just have to start without you.” Jongdae continues.

“Alright.” Chanyeol says with a sigh, looking out the window and watching as large, glittering buildings flutter past. “I’m on my way, so hopefully I won’t be too long.”

“Mr Byun won’t be happy, you know?” Jongdae sighs.

“I know.” Chanyeol says as as a bulbous, full-to-the-brim school bag shoves him against the wall of the bus, nearly knocking all the air out of him. Chanyeol glares menacingly at the devil high school children who laugh at him.

“I hope you have your papers.” Jongdae says all of a sudden.

_Shit!!_

Chanyeol places his phone between his shoulder and ear and digs in his briefcase. To his chagrin, he didn’t see any sign of the papers that he needs for the presentation this morning.

“Fucking shit.” Chanyeol whispers to himself. “No…”

“You don’t have them, do you?” Jongdae sighs. “Seriously Yeol!! What’s up with you?”

“I’ll just print more when I get in, okay!?” Chanyeol growls, closing his briefcase and holding his phone.

The bus stops and lets some of the rowdy, evil high school kids off, freeing some of the seats.

“You better print more you dunderhead!!” Jongdae seethes. “Now we’re starting and Minseok, Junmyeon, Sehun and I have to explain why you’re late! This is so fucking embarrassing!!”

“I’m sorry, Dae, look, I’ll buy you a beer after work, okay?” Chanyeol appeases as he settles into a seat on the bus, putting his briefcase on his lap.

“You better.” Jongdae says. “See you soon, okay?”

“Yep, I’m nearly there, bye.” Chanyeol says, hanging up and slipping his phone into his black suit trouser pocket.

All of a sudden, the bus comes to a shuddering stop in the middle of the road.

The passengers begin talking amongst each other as they look out the windows at something.

Chanyeol also looks out of the window and curses to himself.

_Great, just great! There’s an accident. Why today of all fucking days?!_

The bus had been sitting there for a while and Chanyeol knows that he can’t wait any longer, he needs to get to work _now._

Chanyeol huffs and with his briefcase, he exits the bus and runs along the street, pushing his way through people, some of them shouting after him angrily when he had shoved them particularly hard in his haste.

Chanyeol was sweating beneath his pristine black suit in the heat of the summer day as he spots the large blue letters: _‘Byun Enterprises.’_ emblazoned on his company building in the distance.

Chanyeol pushes on, running as fast as his tall body would allow him to do so. He sprints across a couple of roads, causing cars to stop and beep their horns at him furiously. The drivers stick their necks out and yell a few choice words at him.

“You fucking toe-rag!” one old man calls after him, waving his fist angrily.

Chanyeol ignores the enraged yelling from the motorists as he reaches the right side of the street and runs towards the large and imposing _‘Byun Enterprises’_ building, weaving through businessmen, schoolchildren and tourists as he does so.

_Almost there…_

All of a sudden, Chanyeol falls, tripping over some orange construction barriers and in the process, ruining his pristine, white shirt.

“Watch where you’re going!!” A beer-bellied construction worker shouts, looking thoroughly annoyed.

Chanyeol picks himself up and looks around curiously, there are some construction men working on a sewer grate nearby and they are all glaring at him.  

“Sorry!!” Chanyeol calls as he runs away, limping slightly from the fall. He tries to frantically dust off his shirt which is crumpled and stained with dirt.

“Fucking shit!!” Chanyeol murmurs to himself and then he catches sight of a department store, so he quickly shoots in and picks up a new white shirt, which is his size. He rushes towards the cashier and pays with his card.

The sales assistant looks up at him. “Would you like an email receipt sir?” she asks with a wide smile.

“No thank you—”

“Would you like to join our online fan-club? Where we can send you notifications on offers, promotions—”

“No thank you!” Chanyeol says huffily, stuffing his wallet into his back pocket.

He wasn’t normally this rude, but he’s already twenty minutes late and he knows that he is going to get it when he eventually gets to work.

When the sales assistant had put the new white shirt into the bag, Chanyeol grabs it and rushes out of the department store and towards _‘Byun Enterprises’_. He powerwalks through the revolving doors and across the glimmering white entrance hall, weaving past co-workers as he does so. He enters a lift and presses the button for his level.

The lift opens and Chanyeol rushes to the male bathrooms and changes out of his dirty, soot-stained shirt and into the fresh new one. Luckily it fits!!

Chanyeol walks out of the bathrooms and rushes down the hallways towards his shared office. He sits down at his desk, his chair creaking and groaning under his weight as usual.

He quickly logs into his computer, his fingers were jittery, so he had to repeat the process a couple of times. When he eventually logs in, he prints out the papers that he needs for the presentation.

After collecting the papers from the photocopier down the hall, Chanyeol walks towards the meeting room. When he gets there, he peeks through the small viewing window and sees Minseok, Junmyeon, Jongdae and Sehun stood at the front of the room, going through their presentation. He also sees his best friend and CEO Byun Baekhyun and his associates all sat there watching and listening to his four co-corkers.

Chanyeol takes a deep breath and grabs onto the door handle.

_You can do this!_

Then, he opens the door and walks through.

Immediately, it falls silent and everyone turns towards him.

Chanyeol could feel Baekhyun’s hard eyes on him as he joins, Minseok, Junmyeon, Jongdae and Sehun at the very front of the bright, spacious room.

Chanyeol looks up from his papers, catching the unamused stares of absolutely everyone in the room. “I’m sorry I’m late, traffic was hectic.” He says apologetically, hoping that they will buy it for now.

The old businessmen frown at him and Baekhyun shakes his head slightly, rubbing his chin.

Chanyeol knows that his childhood friend is _really not_ happy right now.

_Fuck this fucking shit day._

“Well, better late than never Mr Park.” Baekhyun says quietly, leaning back in his seat with a frown. “Please continue…”

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

After the presentation, the men all leave the large meeting room.

Baekhyun bids good bye to his associates and once they had disappeared down the lifts, he walks over to Minseok, Junmyeon, Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun.

“Well, good presentation.” Baekhyun says gruffly, folding his arms over his pristine, dark blue suit. “You highlighted some key points.”

The five co-workers share a small, relieved smile, surprised with their boss’s words.

“Thank you, Mr Byun.” Junmyeon says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Baekhyun’s eyes harden with a steely glare. “And you managed to make me into a laughing stock in front of some of my business partners!” he growls.

The five men jump, having not expected the praise to turn into a scolding.

“It’s worse that they don’t take me seriously because of my age!” Baekhyun continues with a scowl. “And now my employees are making me look stupid!”

“We’re really sorry, Mr Byun.” Sehun says with a bow of his head, looking quite bewildered. The rest of them follow the younger’s lead, all of them apologising and bowing low.

Baekhyun nods but still he looks unimpressed. “Now, I would like a talk with you Mr Park.” He says all of a sudden, turning to Chanyeol.

_Ouch…_

Chanyeol still isn’t used to his friend calling him by his last name—it felt and sounded weird—considering the fact that they’ve known each other since high school.

Baekhyun gestures for Chanyeol to follow him to his office and the two of them walk in complete silence.

They both enter Baekhyun’s spacious, white office which is empty except for a chestnut wood desk, a couple of framed pictures on the walls, a huge white sofa, a couple of armchairs, some plants and a window with a panoramic view of the concrete Seoul skyline.

Baekhyun walks towards his desk, his footsteps reverberating throughout the echoey space. Then he sits down at his desk and looks up, meeting Chanyeol’s eyes. “That was fucking embarrassing, you know that?” He says frankly, running a hand through his well-styled, bronze locks.

“I’m sorry, Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol says, taking a seat in front of the large, chestnut wood desk.

Baekhyun sighs, both hands in his hair now. He has dark circles under his eyes, and he looks thoroughly exhausted.

Chanyeol knows how much his friend has changed ever since he had taken over the business from his father two years ago, gone was his fun and jokey side. Instead, his friend had become a workaholic who barely had any time to socialise and go out.

“If you arrive late like that again, I really can’t guarantee that you can keep your job.” Baekhyun says all of a sudden, his brown eyes fixed on Chanyeol.

_What?_

“Baekhyun-ah—”

Baekhyun puts his hand up and Chanyeol clamps his mouth shut. “Seriously Chanyeol, in this office you’re my employee and I’m your boss. I must be realistic. You’re lucky that I’m even _giving_ you another chance!” he says with a frustrated huff.

“You’re right, I’m sorry Mr Byun.” Chanyeol says softly and bows his head low.

“Good.” Baekhyun sighs, looking down at his expensive smartphone.

Chanyeol straightens. “As your friend…” he begins.

Baekhyun looks up from his phone with a swish of his bronze locks.

“How’s finding a wife? Are you having any success?” Chanyeol asks, leaning back in his seat.

Baekhyun sighs, turning off his smartphone. “Not really. I haven’t been on a lot of dates but they’re all just the same.” He says, running a hand through his hair. “My father has organised a blind date for me tonight as well.” He adds with a scowl.

“Oh?” Chanyeol says, cocking his head to the side, having not known this. Usually Baekhyun told him everything but that all changed two years ago. They hardly talked like they used to.

“I really don’t want to marry, Yeol.” Baekhyun says with a frown. “I’m not ready for marriage! I can’t be bothered to talk to women who are all just the same. None of them stand out.”

“Do you have to marry?” Chanyeol asks, he too is also disinterested in marriage, he’s quite happy to flirt and mess around with a couple of pretty women when he feels like it. Chanyeol’s relationships never last long.

“Well, yes.” Baekhyun murmurs. _“And_ have children.” He adds with a scowl and a shiver.

“Sorry Baek.” Chanyeol says sincerely, also hating the idea of having children, he’s never thought about it at all and he doesn’t plan to ever consider it.

Baekhyun sighs and glances at the time on his computer screen. “You need to get back to work, you can’t be talking to me all day.” He says after a small while, then he occupies himself with some papers, flicking through them.

Chanyeol jolts from his thoughts, staring at his friend who was now engrossed, underlining a couple of paragraphs with a _Parker_ pen.

“Okay, see you later, Mr Byun.” Chanyeol says with a nod, standing up and straightening his black suit.

Baekhyun inclines his head towards him with a hum and returns to his papers.

Chanyeol stares for a little longer, then with a frown, he walks out of his friend’s office and shuts the door softly behind him. He wishes that they could hang out more often, just like they used to do so two years ago...

Chanyeol pulls himself out of his saddened thoughts and puts his hands in his black suit trouser pockets, sloping away past the secretaries and towards the lifts. He presses the button for down and waits. Soon, the lift pings open and he enters and pushes the button for his level.

The lift opens and Chanyeol steps out, taking the short trek towards his shared office. He enters, seeing Minseok, Junmyeon, Jongdae and Sehun all looking forlorn as they sat at their desks, clicking on their computers with frowns.

They all look up at his arrival and they continue to stare as he sits down at his desk next to Jongdae.

Chanyeol turns on his computer and catches the unamused stares of his workmates.

“What?” he huffs.

“Don’t ‘what’ us, Yeol!” Minseok snaps, folding his arms. “What were you thinking? Arriving late like that?”

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault that my car’s shit and that I couldn’t get a ride!” Chanyeol retorts, typing his password into the computer and the smart _‘Byun Enterprises’_ screensaver fills the screen.

“But you knew that today was important!” Junmyeon pipes up. “Those were Mr Byun’s _business partners_ in that room, and you made him and us look like complete idiots back there!”

The others agreed with Junmyeon, glaring at Chanyeol who glared back, sitting straighter in his creaky desk chair. “Don’t blame this on me! Sehun was stuttering out his lines, he couldn’t even get a single word out!” Chanyeol says harshly.

Sehun blushes, looking away from his computer screen. “Was not!”

“You kind of were, kiddo.” Jongdae says as he sweeps a hand through his newly dyed dirty-blonde tresses.

Sehun glares, crossing his arms.

“You being late put us all on edge, Chanyeol.” Minseok says in Sehun’s defence. “Because we didn’t know when you would be coming in and we had to explain why you weren’t there to Mr Byun’s associates. They looked at us as if we were fools!”

“Well, at least I came in!” Chanyeol retorts as he leans back, his old desk chair giving a squeak at the action. “Now, would you all stop attacking me like this!”

They all stare at him and then they return to their work, none of them are in the mood to argue.

Chanyeol breathes a small sigh of relief and settles in his creaky desk chair. He gets out his phone and digs in his suit trouser pocket for his earphones.

“Shit…” Chanyeol growls to himself, turning his pockets out. He must have forgotten to pack his earphones this morning, so now he couldn’t block out the others with his music.

With a huff, Chanyeol slams his phone down onto the desk and opens some files and focussing on some work.

 

  

 

****

 

 

Joseon Dynasty, Korea, 17th Century.

 

 

Meanwhile, I had a _very_ rude awakening…

My bedroom door creaks open. “Good morning Crown Princess!” Bokhee the maid calls, sweeping towards my bed.

I groan and flip onto my stomach, burying my face into my silk pillow.

“Get up! It’s your special day~!” Bokhee croons with a smile in her voice, ripping the silk covers off my body.

“I don’t want to get up.” I mumble, groping blindly for my warm, comfy covers. “Can I at least have a couple more hours in bed please?”

Bokhee taps her foot against the hardwood floor. “So, you expect the future king of Korea to wait for you at the altar whilst you have a lie-in, do you?” she says with a disapproving huff and I know that she must be crossing her arms right now. “Come on Crown Princess! I need to get you ready and that’s going to take a couple of hours at most!”

I groan, rubbing my eyes, then I open them again when my vision is less blurred. “I don’t want to get married.” I mumble.

“Oh, you don’t mean that!” Bokhee chuckles, not taking me seriously as she walks closer towards me then she nearly trips, catching herself on my mahogany bedpost. “Princess! You keep leaving your sketchbooks everywhere! I swear I always trip on them every time I come in here!”

I sit up in bed and look at the floor, seeing my art sketchbooks and some loose sheets of parchment scattered around. I’m known for being artistic in the royal household. I love drawing—it’s therapeutic.

“Sorry, Bokhee-ah.” I apologise. “I was doing some sketching last night to calm myself down a bit.” I explain as I watch Bokhee gather my sketchbooks and parchment, placing them into a neat pile in the corner.

Bokhee grumbles to herself, but nonetheless she smiles as she looks at some of my sketches. “You’re so good at drawing.” She murmurs as she places a parchment with a sketch of a stray cat onto the pile.

I smile to myself, Bokhee has been my maid for a long time, so we’re very close and she’s always been an admirer of my artistic abilities. She’s like a friend to me, in fact, she’s my only friend.

“I really don’t want to marry today.” I grumble, running a hand through my glossy black locks.

Bokhee straightens up and meets my eyes.

“I mean, aren’t you supposed to be in love with a man before you marry them?” I continue, staring back at her.

Bokhee sighs and folds her arms. “I guess but Prince Jongin is _so_ handsome, is it really that bad that you’re marrying him?”

“He’s an asshole, Bokhee!” I whine, punching my silk pillow. “He’s been a nuisance all throughout my childhood and now I have to _marry_ him!! What did I do in a past life to deserve this?!”

Bokhee sighs, having been witness to my anti-Jongin rants for a very long while now. I know she’s getting sick of it. “We really must get going, I need to give you a bath.” She says, changing the topic of conversation.

I huff and sit up in bed.

Bokhee helps me into my silky, white dressing gown and takes my hand in hers, leading me out of my room.

We both walk in silence under sheltered walkways. I look out over the palace grounds, seeing guards and servants putting wreaths with beautiful flowers in all different colours everywhere for the wedding. I can smell food cooking from the kitchens, no doubt for the wedding feast later.

I look away from all the decorations with a scowl, not believing that it is actually my wedding day today.

I vaguely hope that it just wouldn’t go ahead and that any god floating about right this moment would hear my pleas and save me.

_Oh please! I really don’t want to marry that arrogant toe-rag!_

As we turn a corner, my heartbeat spikes in my chest and I scowl when I catch sight of a certain someone whom I _really didn’t_ want to see at the moment.

“What are you doing here?!” I splutter as I lock eyes with my toe-rag fiancé: Prince Jongin.

Jongin smirks, his eyes travelling down my body and I feel self-conscious.

I look down to ensure that I’m completely covered. I am, just about, the thin silky material of my dressing gown was well-melded to my body.

I blush, pulling up the neckline. “What are you doing here?!” I repeat, glaring hard at him.

“Just admiring the delectable view, my sweet one.” He replies smoothly then he meets my eyes and winks.

I resist the urge to puke and gag at his moronically verbose language however I can’t help but blush pink.

_Why am I blushing!?_

I carefully try to calm my blush as I meet his eyes with a glare. “Well I’m hating my view, in fact you’re an eyesore, Prince Jongin. So please get away from me before I call the palace guards to drag you away.” I say with a curl of my lip.

Jongin chuckles, his eyes amused. “But Princess, I’ll be your _husband_ in a couple of hours, so the guards wouldn’t dare drag me away from you.”

“I bet they will if I asked them to!” I retort, my fists clenching, ready to punch his stupid, handsome face to a bloody pulp.

“They wouldn’t because they’ll rather listen to me than a little weasel like you—”

I sweep forward and aim my fist. However, Bokhee wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me away from Jongin.

“Crown Princess!” Bokhee scolds.

Jongin chuckles and takes a step towards me, his eyes twinkling with mirth from under the shadow of his long, black tresses. “My you have such a temper on you, Princess.” He says quietly. “We’ll have to work on that when we’re married, or better yet, tonight in the bedroom.” He says with a wink.

I blush even harder, my body heating up beneath my silk dressing gown. However, I quickly compose myself and glare hard at him. “I hate you!” I seethe.

“Keep saying that, Princess.” Jongin says with a leer. “But it’s not going to change the fact that we’re getting married in a couple of hours.”

I growl at him, attempting to move my arms so that I can punch him right where it hurts but Bokhee is crazy strong as always.

Jongin laughs at my attempts. “Well, I’ll leave you to bathe now, Princess.” He says, then his eyes take on a dark gleam as he stares at me. “Unless, you want me to sit in and watch? A little preview for tonight?” he asks in a breathy whisper, his eyes shamelessly trailing down my barely-clothed body again.

“You pervert!!” I yell with a furious red blush, a heat gathering in my belly at his words and presence.

Jongin chuckles. “Well, I actually don’t have time to watch my future wife bathing, I’ll just have to wait for tonight…”

I growl and attempt to hit him again, but Bokhee holds me tightly.

“Princess!” Bokhee warns.

Jongin laughs and saunters away, his silky blue robes fluttering around him.

Bokhee releases me and immediately I charge towards him. Then she grabs my dressing gown, pressing me close to her chest again. “Crown Princess! You have to calm down!” she says seriously.

I huff and stop struggling against Bokhee, watching as Jongin’s stupid, handsome form is swallowed by the light of the sun streaming through the windows. I can see his faint outline disappearing in the distance.

Bokhee releases me once Jongin was out of sight. “Now we really have to get you bathed.” She says. “We don’t have long.”

Bokhee takes my hand and leads me into my private baths. Immediately, the smell of cherry blossoms hit my nose. Bokhee helps me out of my silky, white dressing gown and my nightdress. I sit on the edge of the baths and slip into the warm water, essential oils curl around my body, however it does nothing to calm me at all.

Bokhee allows me to soak for a bit and then she applies some fragrant hair ointment to my glossy, black tresses, scrubbing it in, then she rinses it with warm water. I hiss when she scrunches out my hair slightly too hard.

“I’m sorry.” She apologises.

“It’s okay.” I murmur.

After a while of Bokhee scrubbing and washing my hair and body, she helps me out of the baths and dries me with a muslin sheet. Then she helps me into a fresh, white silk robe.

We both walk out of the baths and towards my room again. When we enter, she sits me down at my dressing table and dries my hair with a cloth, wringing out some of the water from it.

After drying my hair with the muslin cloth, she crouches in front of me and carefully applies some powder onto my face.

I’m not used to wearing makeup, in fact I hate it.

“So…” Bokhee begins with a smirk, getting some more powder onto a cloth and dabbing it onto my face. “No doubt you’ll be having your first time with him tonight…” she says sneakily. “Are you excited?”

I blush furiously and scowl at her. “No way am I making love to Jongin!” I splutter, folding my arms and feeling warm at the very thought. I quickly push it away with a blush, surprised that the image had _actually crossed_ my mind.

_What is wrong with me?_

“But it’s tradition! A newly married woman _always_ loses her virginity on her wedding night!” Bokhee says, staring at me in shock.

“Well, I don’t care about tradition.” I grumble.

“He will be your _husband_ in a couple of hours time.” Bokhee deadpans, then a thought occurs to her and she nearly collapses with giggles. “It’s going to be a very _hard_ wedding night for Prince Jongin if you’re not going to give your virginity to him.”

“Well, tough he’s going to have to get over it.” I say with a huff. “I want to save my virginity for someone special, not for that stuck up, toe-rag. He’ll probably go behind my back and gather a bunch of concubines to sleep with anyway.”

“Wow, that’s a bit harsh.” Bokhee says, putting down the powder and picking up a small pot of thick, black goo. “At least give him a chance, he might become nicer when you’re both married.”

I harrumph and turn away from her. “Yeah right.”

Bokhee simply smiles at me as she dips a brush into the black goo. “Close your eyes.”

I reluctantly do as she says with a huff and I feel as she applies the brush to my eyelids, close to my eyelashes. I squirm at the alien feel of it.

“Keep still!” Bokhee commands softly.

I frown and cross my arms.

Bokhee laughs quietly. “You’ve never been a girly girl, have you?” she remarks, removing the brush and soon it’s back on my skin again.

“Nope, and I hate dresses and weddings too. I wish they would all just disappear!” I say through gritted teeth, my fists clenching in my lap.

“Oh, lighten-up Crown Princess! Your wedding is supposed to be a happy day!” Bokhee sighs.

“Well it would be happy if I was marrying someone whom I actually loved!” I say, crossing my arms. “Can I open my eyes now?”

“Yes.” Bokhee says with a sigh.

I open my eyes and Bokhee continues to put the disgusting makeup on my face.

After a little while of silence, my bedroom door opens, and more maids hurry in with my wedding dress.

“Crown Princess, it’s time to get dressed.” The head maid says, bowing low.

I hold back a spiteful word or two as I stand up and allow the maids to fit me into this atrocious, red garb that is my wedding dress.

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

Present day, Seoul, South Korea 2019.

 

 

Later on, as promised, Chanyeol buys Jongdae a beer after work and they both sit in a booth at a crowded bar in the heart of Seoul.

It’s a Friday evening, so everyone is out drinking and revelling in booze. The place is full of pretty ladies, all of them drinking and having fun together.

However, the two men aren’t in the mood to go lady-hunting like usual on Fridays because they have both had a rubbish day at the office and a not-so-nice telling-off from their childhood friend, Byun Baekhyun.

The two men sip on their beers, their silk ties are loose, and their white shirt sleeves are rolled to the crooks of their elbows.

“I really needed that.” Jongdae murmurs as he finishes his beer, then he calls the barmaid over and she takes his glass and walks away.

Chanyeol licks the beer foam from his lips. He needed it too, the familiar warmth of the alcohol made him feel much better, at least his bad day is going to end well with a nice pint of beer in his stomach.

Chanyeol continues to sip his drink as the barmaid returns and places a fresh glass of beer in front of Jongdae.

Jongdae thanks the barmaid and takes a long sip of beer, putting down his glass. “I wonder how Baekhyun-ah is getting on with his blind date?” he muses, licking the beer foam from his lips.

Chanyeol puts down his beer and shrugs. He had told Jongdae that Baekhyun was having a blind date tonight during their lunch break over toasted bacon and cheese baguette rolls from a café near the _‘Byun Enterprises’_ building _._

The two friends know that Baekhyun’s rich and influential father is looking for a woman for him to marry, and they know that their friend is in no way ready for marriage yet.

“He’s probably having the time of his life, Dae.” Chanyeol says sardonically as he pops a peanut into his mouth and chews.

“You know, I really wouldn’t want to get married yet. I feel too young.” Jongdae remarks. “I mean, Baekhyun-ah had to grow up so quickly, he’s only twenty-six and he’s the CEO of a rich, multi-billion won company.” He says thoughtfully, sipping his beer.

Chanyeol sighs as he drinks his beer. “Yeah, Baekhyun’s changed a lot.” He says with a sad smile and Jongdae agrees with a nod.

The three of them used to always go drinking together on Fridays, however that all stopped when Baekhyun took over as the CEO of his father’s very rich and influential company two years ago. Their friend had to stay late at the office, attend business parties, jet off to Europe and the states and have important meetings with businessmen.

It was a heavy responsibility for Baekhyun, and in response, he lost his hyper and playful personality.

After a while of drinking, the two of them were getting tipsy and it was late, so Chanyeol calls Sehun—shitty roommate number two—to come and pick them up.

“Sehun-ah?” Chanyeol says into the phone when the call connects.

“What?” Sehun grunts, the TV is blaring in the background and Chanyeol knows that Sehun must be watching his sappy romance dramas.

“So rude.” Chanyeol tuts, shaking his head. “Could you come pick us up?”

“Where are you?” Sehun asks and Chanyeol could hear keys and a scrape of a chair on the other line.

Chanyeol tells Sehun the name of the bar.

“Okay, be there in fifteen.” Sehun says with a sigh and then he hangs up.

Chanyeol puts his phone into his black suit trouser pocket and catches Jongdae’s eyes. “Let’s wait outside.”

Jongdae nods and the two of them stand from the booth and weave their way past boozy revellers and out of the crowded bar.

They both walk out onto the dark, orange illuminated city streets and sit down on a bench nearby to wait for Sehun together.

As they wait, they absentmindedly watch a couple of construction men several metres away who are taking a late-night coffee break.

Then, the two men look away and occupy themselves with their phones, both of them ready to go home and rest after a long and hard day of work.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun was having the time of his life.

Not.

Baekhyun sighs, leaning his elbow on the table, the woman in front of him is rambling incessantly to herself as they wait for their chicken liver pâté starters at one of Seoul’s richest French restaurants.

Honestly, he doesn’t give two flying shits about his blind date or what she was saying. It all sounds like rubbish, verbal diarrhoea, would she just shut up already?! Does this woman not have an off button?

“Mr Byun?”

Baekhyun jolts out of his thoughts and looks at the woman who is glaring at him, her red painted lips pursed in a thin line.

“Were you listening to a thing that I was saying?” she asks, folding her arms.

Baekhyun straightens in his seat and looks into her eyes, he really isn’t in the mood to deal with this woman whom he barely knew. “No, I wasn’t.” he replies honestly, not interested in the slightest.

The woman glares harder. “You haven’t asked a single question about me tonight! It’s like you’re not even interested! Do you even _want_ to marry me?!” she seethes, shaking with anger.

_Fuck this fucking shit. I don’t need this!_

“No, I don’t want to marry you.” Baekhyun scowls, thoroughly fed-up and sick of going on stupid, meaningless blind dates with women whom he didn’t give a flying fuck about. “Your voice is annoying, and your saggy tits are sitting on your plate. Quite frankly it’s disgusting.”

The woman’s eyes are now burning with fire as she stands and picks up her water, throwing it all over his face.

Baekhyun closes his eyes as the water drips down his hair and face but he doesn’t react as the miserable hag picks up her bag and stomps out of the fancy restaurant like a petulant child.

When she was gone, Baekhyun grabs a serviette and wipes his face from water, a couple of waiters rush over and clean the table.

“Would you like the bill, Mr Byun?” one of the waiters asks, gathering plates.

Baekhyun removes the serviette from his face and nods. “Yes please.”

The waiter nods and walks away and once the table was free from water, the other waiters saunter off.

Baekhyun sweeps an eye around the large, dimly-lit restaurant, the other diners were all staring at him, having witnessed the fiery exchange.

Baekhyun ignores them, glad that that wretch had left on her own accord, now he can go home and relax after a long and stressful day of work.

Soon, the waiter arrives with the bill and Baekhyun pays with his card. Then he stands and walks out of the restaurant, ignoring the curious stares of the other diners as he passes by.

Then he enters the warm city streets and walks the short trek towards his car.

Baekhyun walks with his hands in his suit pockets, cars and people whooshing around him.

He is sick of all these dates that he’s been urged to go on by his father, it was non-stop and none of the women had caught his eye. In fact, he didn’t want to marry, it wasn’t for him, he didn’t have time to have a wife because he is so busy with his very successful business. He barely had time for _himself_ for goodness sake!

Baekhyun looks across the street and squints, recognising his friends Jongdae and Chanyeol sat on a bench. He sighs, knowing that they must have been drinking together tonight. They used to all do it on Friday evenings after work.

Baekhyun actually stops and stares, watching as Chanyeol shows Jongdae something on his phone, and the two of them erupt with chortles.

He misses his friends.

Of course, he does! They’ve known each other since high school. But ever since he took over the family business, that all changed. Now he only ever talks to the two of them to discuss business matters or to scold them for embarrassing him in front of his business partners like today.

Baekhyun sighs and looks away before they could notice him staring at them. He turns down a street and enters a walled carpark. He gets out his car keys and unlocks his smooth, grey Aston Martin Vantage.

He slips into the supercar and starts the ignition, peeling out of the parking space and down the road, heading towards his apartment building. He couldn’t wait to get home and indulge in some much-needed sleep.

 

 

 

****

 

 

Joseon Dynasty, Korea, 17th Century.

 

 

Meanwhile, I am walking through the palace grounds towards the throne room. The large red doors open for me and I wish for the ground to swallow me up so that I didn’t have to marry Jongin.

I stop in the doorway, seeing that the large, ornate room was full of people.

_I can’t do this, I really don’t want to do this._

Then, the ladies who are carrying my long, red hanbok gently push me forwards and I have no choice but to take a step forward and walk through. As soon as my wooden shoes make contact with the hard floors of the large, opulent room, everyone looks towards me.

My makeup is irritating me, and it feels foreign on my face. My hair is styled and heavy with pure gold hairpieces which itch to the high heavens.

I think I have a headache now. Ouch.

I see Jongin ahead, dressed in a traditional, cobalt blue hanbok. I had to admit, he looks handsome…however I _certainly_ didn’t like him!! He’s an arrogant toe-rag and he’s always been like that all throughout my childhood.

I know that he isn’t going to change. Despite what Bokhee says.

Once you’re a toe-rag, you’re always a toe-rag.

I catch my fathers’ stone-grey eyes and look away quickly as I walk down the aisle.

My father knows about my reluctance to marry today and he’s threatened me many times that if I didn’t marry Jongin, he would kick me out of the royal household. He’s changed ever since my mother died and when he married the vile wretch that is my step mother.

I reach the front of the room and kneel beside the arrogant toe-rag whom I had to marry.

Jongin subtly leers at me and I hold back a scowl, knowing that my father and my step mother are watching me beadily from their seats nearby.

I clench my fists and take a deep breath in order to calm the anger and frustration in my veins.

My wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of my life, it is the day where I should be marrying a man whom I loved. But it wasn’t, it just wasn’t. I don’t want to get married, not to Jongin, in fact, I don’t ever want to consider marriage. I’m not ready. I’m only _twenty years old_ for goodness sake!

I want to pursue a career of being an artist, but no! My father had it all laid out for me the minute I was born into this cruel, royal world. I was to be wed to my childhood nemesis Kim Jongin, and I was to be his Queen.

The holy man begins to speak, and I can’t concentrate because all I can think about is that I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to marry the toe-rag beside me, I simply can’t. I wish to be anywhere but here at the moment.

I vaguely hope that some god somewhere will hear my pleas and help me out.

That’s how desperate I am.

“Now, for the vows.” The holy man says with a smile.

I cringe internally and resist the urge to puke.

My heart is racing in my chest with worry.

This was all too real for me.

_I didn’t want to do this._

“Now, Prince Jongin, turn to your betrothed and repeat my words…” The holy man says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

The arrogant, dashing toe-rag turns towards me with a charming smile.

_Why did he have to be handsome yet so terrible at the same time?!_

“Now, I Prince Jongin take…” the holy man begins.

I dip into my thoughts again because I can’t concentrate. My dress is bulky and heavy and not to mention, it’s summer, so I’m sweltering hot underneath it.

“I do.” Jongin says all of a sudden.

I blink and stare into his eyes—he’s leering at me.

_Bastard._

I know that I can’t do this.

The holy man starts talking again and I drift into my thoughts again, wanting to block all of it out, desperately hoping that this was all a dream. But sadly, it isn’t despite how many times I subtly pinch myself.

Suddenly, I think back to what my mother told me a very long time ago before she died:

_“Always live each day as if it was your last. You only live once after all…”_

“Now do you take Prince Jongin as your husband, Crown Princess?” the holy man asks all of a sudden.

I blink again and drift out of my thoughts.

It’s completely silent in the large, ornate hall and I can feel absolutely everyone’s eyes pierced on me. I catch my father’s hard, stone-grey eyes and austere visage.

I look away from him and down at my hands in my lap.

_My mother was right._

_You only live once._

I know that I don’t want to marry Jongin. Even though he is handsome and dashing, he is a bastard and I’ve known him long enough to know that he isn’t going to change his ways.

“Crown Princess?” the holy man prompts, beginning to worry.

_It was now or never…_

I look at Jongin and square my shoulders.

_I knew what had to be done now…_

“No, I don’t want to marry you.” I say firmly as I glare at Jongin, my heart pounding in my chest.

Everyone gasps and stares at me.

Jongin actually looks shocked, an expression which I’ve never seen on his face before ever since we met when we were children.

_Hah!_

“Crown Princess!” my father seethes, standing from his seat.

My stepmother also stands, looking furious, her eyes bulging out of her sockets. She looks like a bug and I resist the urge to laugh at how idiotic she looks.

_I did it…_

Jongin looks as white as a sheet, he probably hadn’t expected that I would actually have the guts to say no to him. Kim Jongin isn’t used to people saying no to him.

_Hah ha!_

I stand and begin hiking my dress up, determined to get away from here.

“Princess! Where are you going?” My father yells.

I turn around and meet his eyes. “I don’t want to get married!” I growl as everyone gasps and shouts angrily.

Jongin’s family look murderous and so does my father.

“Oh yes you are!” My father shouts, walking towards me. “Now stop being a brat and marry Prince Jongin!” he orders, his spittle spraying on my face.

_Eww._

“No!! I would never marry an arrogant toe-rag like him!!” I scream as I wave my arms furiously, turning to Jongin and giving him my best scary face.

Jongin stands up and calms himself as his brown eyes lock with mine. He no longer looks shocked anymore and I know that he is very good at carefully concealing his true emotions. “Well, it’s your loss, Princess.” He says, sauntering towards me. “I guess you’ll die a miserable virgin, why would anyone want you anyway?!” he murmurs with a deadly, cutting lilt. Then he smirks at the look on my face.

He actually had the _gall_ to smirk at me!

_That toe-rag has gone too far!_

Anger pulses through my veins, limbs and body.

My fists clench and before I can think rationally, my fist flies out and hits him square in the jaw.

There is an uproar as Jongin collapses to the ground with a pained shout, his face as white as a sheet.

_Serves you right!_

“Princess!!” My father seethes, his eyes burning with fire and I know that I’m in deep, _deep_ trouble.

Everyone in the hall is now talking over each other as Jongin’s family swarm towards him, some of them mopping up blood from a cut in his jaw.

I stand there in shock, surprised that I had _actually punched_ Jongin, never have I ever laid a hand on him before. I’m not normally a violent person at all…

But to be honest, he did deserve it from his taunts this morning…and for being an arrogant toe-rag all throughout my childhood.

_Hah Ha!_

I snap out of my thoughts, everyone is distracted with Jongin and I take this opportunity to hike up my long, heavy red dress and dash out of the large hall, my footsteps reverberating around the space, echoing in my ears.

I was already in heaps of trouble before I punched Jongin, but now I’m certain that I’m _really_ in for it.

_I can’t stay here, I need to get away._

I can hear the guests following me as I rush out of the palace and run down the stone steps. I continue running crazily towards the dense verdant forest in the distance.

I know that I can’t stay at the palace, my father would force me to marry Jongin, I know he would. He would probably have me at sword point to ensure that I read the vows and say: I do.

I need to get away.

I need to escape, I want to be anywhere, anywhere but here.

I don’t care where, just that I’m far away from the palace, my father, Jongin and my life as the Crown Princess of Korea.

I rush into the ancient, chartreuse forest, twigs and organic matter snapping and squelching beneath my wooden shoes which are beginning to scrape uncomfortably against my feet. I can already feel blisters forming.

I stop to take off my wooden shoes and I run barefoot through the forest. I can hear voices close by and my heart is pounding so, so hard in my chest and I curse my dress for being so heavy.

My dress snags on a twig and I can’t move. I panic and try to release my dress but whatever I do, it’s embedded in the thick fabric.

I grab the dress and tug roughly. It rips away from the twig, leaving a large gash in the fabric. I don’t care, I hated this stupid frumpy dress the minute I saw it anyway.

I run faster when I hear voices yelling my name louder, I can also hear my father, he sounds furious.

_Where am I going to go? I need to get away for a long while. A VERY long while…_

I don’t know how harsh the consequences will be but from my father’s reaction today, it won’t be good, and I don’t want to find out what might happen to me…

All of a sudden, my long sleeve rips on a tree branch and I stumble and fall down a ditch, hitting branches and rocks as I go. Then I land on a pile of leaves, but instead of landing normally, I fall through the leaves and into a large hole beneath it.

I scream as I fall, my red dress is fluttering around me and my heart is beating so hard in my chest as I fall deeper and deeper into the dark earth, cold air rushes, curls and swirls around me. It’s completely pitch-black and the silence is pierced by my echoing screams.

Suddenly, a glittery blue dust swirls around my legs, waist and upper body and up my arms. I frown in confusion as I continue to fall. The mist covers my body and blinds my eyes.

It’s impossibly bright and I close my eyes tightly. There is a strange wind-chiming sound whooshing in my ears, almost angelic, like the sound of harps, encapsulating my senses—drowning them.

_I’m not dead, am I?_

Then all of a sudden, I clatter down onto a hard surface with a groan.

_No, definitely not dead. I felt that._

The glittery blue dust evaporates and it’s dark again. I ease my eyes open and I see a faint orange gloom in the distance.

I slowly ease myself up, my hands on the hard, cold and wet ground. I look around the large cavernous space constructed from stone. The place stinks terribly of sewage and the walls are grimy with mould.

I splutter at the putrid stench and hold my long sleeve to my nose and mouth. I shakily stand and look around, supporting myself with a hand on the slimy stone wall. “Hello?” I call into the large space.

My voice echoes throughout, and I can hear water trickling in the distance.

It’s cold in here as well and my feet are wet and freezing. My hair is all over the place and I’m certain that I’ve lost my gold headpieces. But I didn’t care about that.

I walk around the dark, echoey space, looking for a way out. I look up and see a stone ceiling. I frown when I couldn’t see an obvious exit.

After a while of looking around and beginning to panic, I can hear voices coming from a shaft of orange light in the distance.

The sound is slightly muffled, but I know that they are definitely voices.

Hope sings its tune in my heart as I rush towards the orange light in the distance, my bare feet slapping against the wet ground, my heart pounding so hard in my chest.

_This had to be the way out. It had to be!_

I stop in front of the shaft of orange light, there is a metal ladder on the brick wall, leading up to a covered opening in the stone ceiling.

I know that I can’t stay in this smelly cavern forever, and this ladder looked like the only way out at the moment, but I wondered where it would lead to. Would I return to the palace? Or would I enter a whole new place? A place that I’ve never ever been to or seen before? A place very far from home?

With a heavily fluttering heart, I gulp and look at the ladder as it glints in the orange light.

_Well, there’s only one way to find out…_

My hands wrap around the metal ladder. It’s slimy and gross. I cringe but I put this to the back of my mind. Anything to get out of this dark, smelly space.

With a firm grip on the ladder, I haul myself up and place my foot on the first rung, then I do the same to my second foot.

I continue up the ladder whilst breathing deeply, my tired muscles protesting, my tattered red dress weighing me down.

The further I go, the clearer the noises are getting. It’s loud and the sounds are foreign. I’ve never heard anything like them before. They’re beeping and whirring and I can’t place them at all.

I suddenly feel very anxious and I have a small inkling that I wasn’t home…

However, I continue to haul myself up the metal ladder, looking up as I did so. I could see the night sky through the small holes of the metal, circular opening, the stars are twinkling down at me.

I’m now at the top of the ladder and there is a large metal circle in my way.

I place a hand on the cold, hard metal circle and push hard. I grunt, it was tough, so I pushed again, harder this time, gritting my teeth, my tired, spent muscles quivering.

Then the metal pings off and I shove it away, immediately my eyes are flooded with light. Warm, summer air washes across my flushed face.

Whilst breathing deeply, I push myself out of the hole and my eyes widen as I take in the bright lights, the strange moving vehicles zooming in every direction and the large, almost gargantuan buildings in the distance, all of them shining brightly with words emblazoned on them, some of them flashing with strange colours.

_What is this place?_

I know that this could _not_ be the 17th Century. Definitely not! It looks strange, I’ve never seen anything like it before…

“Hey! What are you doing in there!” a rough voice shouts all of a sudden.

I jump, bracing myself against the hard surface as two men in bright orange vests and strange hard white hats rush towards me.

“Please help me!” I say, staring up at the two, beer-bellied men. “I’m stuck!”

The men look at each other and they each take a hand, helping me out of the hole. My stupid, frumpy dress gets stuck and I curse under my breath.

They tug harder and I fall out with an ‘oof’, collapsing on the hard, bumpy ground.

“What were you doing in there?” one of the men asks.

I sit up, wiping the hair out of my eyes. “I don’t know.” I say, looking up at the two men. “Where am I?” I ask.

“Seoul, South Korea.” The other man says with a roll of his eyes as he folds his arms.

“Seoul?” I whisper in confusion, having never heard the word before.

“Yeah, _Seoul,_ are you stupid? You don’t even know the capital!” The first man says with a scoff and the other one agrees, shaking his head at me.

“But, isn’t the capital Hanseong?” I ask, feeling even more confused. “This is the 17th Century, right?” I ask, looking up at them but my words felt strange on my tongue—they sounded ridiculous.

 _“The 17 th century?!”_ one of the men splutters. “Are you mad!?”

“No of course not!” I say as I clench my fists, beginning to get angry. I stand up and glare at the two, strange men. “I’m from the 17th century and I don’t know where I am! So please help me!”

One of the men sighs and crosses his arms. “Look, we don’t know who you are or what drugs you might be on, but could you stop messing around! Now we have to fix that manhole cover all over again thanks to you!”

“But I need help! I’m not from around here!” I say, walking towards them, my feet are hurting, the hard ground digging into my raw skin.

“We don’t care, just get out!” the first man says, waving me away with a dismissive hand and a cluck of his tongue.

“But—” I try to protest, my fists clenching, having never met such rude people in all my twenty years of life. I can’t believe how disrespectful their language is, don’t they understand that I’m the Crown Princess?!

“Just go.” The second man says, digging in his pocket and taking out a glowing, thin metal object. “Otherwise we’ll call the police.”

“The police?” I whisper, the word is foreign to me and it doesn’t sound good.

The men glare hard at me and I know that I wouldn’t be getting any help from them. In fact, I don’t even want their help.

I glare at them and walk away towards a large set of orange barriers. I slip through one of them and look around the bright street with wide eyes.

It’s busy and there are people absolutely everywhere.

Some of them look at me as if I have tentacles protruding out of my head.

I stare back at them, they are all wearing strange clothes that I have never seen before, there’s too much skin showing…

I blush and avert my eyes as a woman walks by with a low neckline, her breasts accentuated by the tight fabric of her dress.

This can’t be the 17th century! No one would walk around like that from where I’m from…she is practically indecent for goodness sake!

_I need to find out what time period this is._

Suddenly, I catch sight of a man nearby who was leaning against a wall, talking into a strange, flat device he is holding to his ear.

I walk up to him, hoping that he would be able to answer some of my questions.

“Excuse me, what year is this?” I ask as I approach him.

The man looks at me and glares. “Go away, I’m on the phone.” He says rudely with a scowl.

“But—”

The man glares hard. “I’m on the phone! Are you deaf or what?” he growls.

I jump and rush away from him, my heart pounding.

My bare feet slap against the pavement as I weave through people, stopping them and asking them what year it is.

“What year is it?” I ask.

“Go away!” an old lady says, whacking me with her handbag.

“Rude!” I call after her, my fists clenching. I’ve never encountered such a rude old lady like her before!

I then approach a teenage boy who’s carrying many books in his arms.

“What year is it?” I ask, patting his shoulder.

“Um, I need to go home.” He stutters with a blush, rushing away, his bulbous school bag bouncing as he runs.

I stare after him and tap a passing man’s shoulder.

“Excuse me, could you tell me what year it is please?”

“I don’t have time! I have to catch a train!” the man says, looking down at a dial which is strapped to his wrist.

I sigh as I watch the man walk away from me, disappearing through crowds of people.

Then I rush towards a woman who is wearing a very short dress. I can’t believe it. How is this woman getting away with a skirt like that?! It’s brushing her _knees_ for goodness sake!!

“Excuse me!” I rasp, patting her shoulder.

She turns around with a gasp, holding a hand to her heart.

I blush when I notice her very low neckline, revealing a lot of her saggy breasts.

“What year is it?” I ask, my heart pounding as I determinedly look into her eyes.

The woman glares. “This night keeps getting worse and worse!” she growls to herself. “I don’t have time for weirdoes like you!” She says with a glare, her red-painted lips pursed in a thin line.

“Hey!” I call after her, clenching my fists as she walks away from me. I notice that her shoes are tall, I’ve never seen shoes like those before…

I look away from the rude woman’s retreating form and catch my reflection in a window nearby displaying clothes. My wedding dress is tattered, ripped and covered in soot and dirt and my hair is a tangled nest on my head, my makeup has run, and I have dark circles under my eyes like a panda.

I blush at my appearance, suddenly feeling self-conscious, no wonder they’re all running away from me as if I’m a madwoman.

I look dreadful.

I begin to panic as I look around, nobody on this street wanted to tell me the year and I’m getting desperate.

I look at the other side of the street and without thinking, I step out into the busy road. Maybe the people there would be more helpful?

“Stop!” a male voice yells.

Suddenly, two strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling my back flush against a hard, chiselled chest.

I pause. I’m in the middle of the road, and a large vehicle is beeping at me, the person inside looks angry at me as he shouts profanities.

“Fucking hooligans!” The man yells from inside his vehicle, waving his fist out the window.

“What are you doing? Do you want to get yourself killed?” the male voice continues in my ear, his warm breath curling down my neck. I can smell a faint hint of alcohol in his breath and his hair is tickling my cheek.

I don’t know what to say, so shaken and shocked at my actions.

“Come on, let’s get out of the road.” He says.

 I allow the man to lead me away and back onto the pavement. Immediately, the vehicles start moving again, beeping loudly at us as they pass by.

I turn around and my eyes widen as I stare into the eyes of a man.

A very beautiful man.

He has dirty-blonde hair, a strong jawline and cat-like lips which are frowning down at me as his brown eyes stare into mine. My heart gives a loud and healthy throb in my chest.

_Oh my…_

“What year is it?” I stutter out with a pink blush, still staring at the handsome man.

“It’s 2019.” The man answers, still staring at me, his hands are on my forearms, as if worried that I’ll run off somewhere.

 _“2019?”_ I splutter loudly in shock, my eyes wide.

“Hyung!” a voice shouts all of a sudden.

We both look towards the voice and my eyes widen when I catch sight of yet another very beautiful man as he approaches us.

He’s much taller than the first man, his legs are long and strong, and he has a head of curly, chestnut tresses. His eyes are wide, and they are staring straight at me.

I gulp with a blush, looking down at my blackened feet.

“Who are you?” the second man inquires as he stands beside the dirty-blonde man.

I could feel his eyes on me, and I look up, glancing between the two men.

Even though it was a simple question, I’m so speechless, I don’t know if this is a dream, a hallucination or a mirage. I don’t know what to think at the moment.

“Do you have a name?” the first one prompts after a little while, his hands stroking my upper arms and strangely the action is quite soothing.

I look up and meet their eyes. My heart begins to beat louder in my chest when I realise that I’ve forgotten my name and whatever I did, I can’t remember it at all.

I meet their eyes again and I say the first thing I could think of:

“Princess.”

They both quirk an eyebrow and share a look.

“Princess?” the first one whispers.

I simply nod with a blush at how the handsome man said that word so smoothly, making my belly flutter with heat.

“So, why did you run out into the road?” the taller of the two asks, putting his hands in his pockets.

I shrug, not knowing what to say. “I was confused, I wanted to know what year it was. No one would tell me.” I explain in a ramble, then I look between the two men. “What year is it again?”

“It’s 2019.” The first one says calmly.

“2019?” I breathe.

They both nod.

“But…how is that possible?” I mumble to myself.

_Why are these men saying that it’s 2019?!_

I quickly do some mental maths in my head and I gasp quietly to myself when I realise that the year 2019 would be in the 21st century. Surely, I wasn’t _five centuries_ in the future…right?

_It’s impossible! I can’t be!_

I must be dead, this must be the afterlife, this is a dream. All one big dream. Please let it be a dream! Hopefully I was asleep somewhere in the ancient forest outside the palace. I bite my lip, and I gasp in pain—Ouch.

I can feel blood trickling in my mouth. Nope, this can’t be a dream, I haven’t woken up and I’m still standing in front of two very beautiful men.

“What are you doing out here?” the man with the curly, chestnut tresses asks. “Your dress is all dirty.” He notes, his eyes scanning me.

I rip myself out of my thoughts and blush, looking down at my ruined wedding dress which was covered with soot and dirt. “I came out of that manhole.” I say, pointing towards the orange barriers where the rude, beer-bellied men were using loud and heavy machines on it.

The men both glance at where I’m pointing then they look at me again.

“Why were you in there?” the first one asks, still stroking my forearms.

No, this is definitely not a dream. His touch is too real, little flickers of heat are trickling up my arms—electrifying my heart.

“I—I don’t know…one minute I was getting married to that stupid useless toe-rag Jongin and then I punched him and ran away from the palace and the next minute I fell in a large manhole, there was this glittery blue dust, then I fell then… then—” I splutter, so utterly confused, my heart trembling.

The two men stare at me and the first one brings me towards him in a hug.

I freeze, not used to male contact but I don’t have the heart to refuse his hug even if it did go against all etiquette that I was told as a child.

“Where do you live? Our friend is coming to get us, so we can drop you home?” the second one asks.

I look away from the dirty-blonde haired man’s embrace and look towards the taller man who’s holding a thin, metal device that’s glowing.

“I’m not from here.” I whisper.

“What do you mean you’re not from here?” the first one asks, rubbing my back.

“I’m from a different place. Where there’s no lights, big metal things or mean people.” I say, looking between the two men, hoping and praying that they would believe me and that they wouldn’t leave and ignore me like the other people whom I’ve tried to talk to tonight.

Before the two can respond, a loud beep permeates our little bubble.

We all look towards the sound as a large, green metal vehicle stops near us and as another handsome man steps out of the car, sweeping a slender hand through his russet tresses.

I blush, my heart pounding.

He’s really gorgeous and tall. He has wide shoulders and a very athletic build. He seems to move with a lithe grace, his hair bouncing a top his head.

“Hyungs.” The man greets then he looks at me and whispers: “Who’s this?”

“This is Princess.” The taller man with the chestnut hair says with a wide smile towards me.

I blush and look away, feeling all three men’s stares on me.

“Princess?” the third man whispers. “Can you guys explain what’s going on?”

“Later.” The taller one with the curly chestnut brown tresses says dismissively with a wave of his hand.

The russet-haired man frowns and folds his arms across his hard chest, but he doesn’t say anything.

“So anyway, do you have a place to stay for the night?” the first one asks, still staring at me from under his head of dirty-blonde tresses.

I shake my head. “I’m not from around here, Mister. So, no.”

The three men look at each other for a small while.

Suddenly, the chestnut-haired man turns to me with a smile. “Why don’t you come with us, Princess?” he suggests.

The other two look towards him with wide eyes.

“Chanyeol!” the russet-haired man hisses, glaring at the taller one.

“What?” ‘Chanyeol’ asks, returning the glare.

“Um…” I begin with a large blush and the three men turn and look at me. “I don’t even know you.” I say.

“See!” The russet-haired man says, gesturing towards me. “You can’t just ask her to come home with us! We don’t even know her, and she barely knows us!”

“But she obviously doesn’t have a place to stay!” Chanyeol argues. “And it’s late! She’s probably tired!”

“Where are you from?” The russet-haired man asks, turning to me. “I can always drop you home.”

“I’m not from around here.” I repeat with a huff, frustrated tears stinging the backs of my eyes. Somehow just saying it makes it all seem more real.

“Then where _are_ you from?” he asks again with a huff.

I glare at him, my fists shaking.

“Sehun! Don’t grill her like that!” The dirty-blonde haired man says before I could reply, rubbing my forearms again which helps me calm down.

‘Sehun’ glares at the dirty-blonde man and huffs, folding his arms.

“So, Princess, would you like to stay with us for the night?” the first man asks.

I look into his eyes and then I look at the other two men who stare back at me and I blush at how handsome they are.

The dirty-blonde haired man sighs quietly to himself and I meet his eyes. “I know that you don’t know us very well, but you can trust us.” He whispers, his warm breath curling down my cheek and I feel comforted by his words. “Okay?” he prompts.

I look at the three men and then around the place, I do need somewhere to stay, and these men are offering their services to me. And I know I can trust them, they are the only people being nice to me since I got here.

I stare into his eyes and I can see nothing but truth. “Okay.”

The dirty-blonde haired man smiles, and I blush at how it accentuates his beauty even more. “Good. Well, it’s late, so let’s go home.”

“But will you help me find my way home?” I whisper.

The three men look at each other and then back at me.

“Of course, we will.” The dirty-blonde haired man says, still rubbing my arms and the other two men nod as well. “But in the morning, because it’s midnight now and we’re all tired.” He says.

“Okay.” I nod. “Thank you all so much.” I say respectfully, looking at the three handsome men.

They smile at me.

“Okay then, let’s go home.” Sehun sighs as he turns around and digs in his pocket, taking out a set of keys.

Chanyeol and the dirty-blonde haired man and I follow him towards the large, green metal vehicle.

The first man and Sehun get into the front and Chanyeol opens the back door for me.

I thank him and begin to get in, but my large dress catches in the doorway and I struggle to pull myself through.

I groan, my day was getting worse.

The two men at the front turn around and stare at me.

“Chanyeol just push!” the dirty-blonde haired man calls.

I can feel Chanyeol trying to stuff my large, frumpy dress into the vehicle, his hand finds my ass and I squeak.

“Don’t touch my butt, you pervert!” I yell, my leg shooting out and kicking him hard in the groin.

“Shit!” Chanyeol hisses, releasing my dress.

“Chanyeol did you touch Princess’s butt?” the dirty-blonde haired man asks with a frown.

“It was an accident!” Chanyeol groans as he holds his groin. “I didn’t mean to!”

I turn around, my face is red and I’m blushing. “I’m sorry.” I say, feeling bad that I had hurt him when I had only just met him.

Chanyeol looks up and meets my eyes. He does _not_ look happy. “It’s okay…” he says but I can tell that he doesn’t mean it. “Oh shit…” he breathes to himself, still holding his groin.

The first man sighs and gets out of the vehicle and with his help Chanyeol is able to stuff my dress into the vehicle, both of them avoiding my butt region as they do so.

When I’m securely in the vehicle, Chanyeol gets into the seat next to me and shuts the door with a loud huff.

The man with the dirty-blonde tresses gets in the front and slams the door shut. “Chanyeol, is Princess buckled up?” he asks, turning in his seat.

Chanyeol’s eyes widen. “Oh yeah.” he says then he leans towards me.

I cringe and lean away from him with a blush. “You’re not going to touch my butt again, are you?” I ask, beginning to worry that I had unknowingly trusted three sick perverts.

The dirty-blonde haired man cackles in his seat and Sehun joins in with a soft laugh.

Chanyeol blushes a harsh shade of red as he stares, the tips of his large ears are ablaze. “Of course not!” he splutters. “It was an accident!! I didn’t mean to do it!” he says with a frustrated huff. “I was only going to help you with your seatbelt!”

“Seatbelt?” I whisper, having never heard that word before.

“Yeah.” Chanyeol says, trying to calm his furious red blush as he tentatively reaches towards me and grabs a long fabric strap, pulling it over my chest. He moves some of my frumpy dress out of the way and buckles the ‘seatbelt’.

“Oh…” I breathe, looking at the seatbelt. “Sorry.” I say, looking up at Chanyeol.

“It’s alright.” He says but he’s still frowning as he turns away from me and folds his arms.

Then, Sehun starts the vehicle and pulls away, driving down the road.

As we travel, I can’t help but stare out the window, looking at all the glittering and towering buildings flitting past. There are so many people walking around, wearing strange clothes and holding weird glowing objects, which their eyes seem to be glued to…

“So, Princess.”

I look away from the window and meet the eyes of the man with the dirty-blonde hair, he’s smiling at me with a curve of his cat-like lips. “I’m Jongdae.” He says, gesturing to himself then he turns to the russet-haired man who’s controlling the vehicle with a wheel. “That’s Sehun.” ‘Sehun’ flashes me a small smile and looks away to focus on the road. Then Jongdae points to the man beside me. “And that’s Chanyeol as you might have gathered.” He says with a barely concealed chuckle.

Chanyeol looks up and shoots a glare at Jongdae, however it just makes him laugh harder.

I nod. “It’s nice to meet you all.” I say sincerely, and they smile.

After that, the trip is short and quiet, other than Jongdae and Sehun subtly arguing about which ‘radio station’ we should listen to. I didn’t listen too hard because I didn’t understand any of it.

Soon, Sehun stops and parks the vehicle in a large space full of other vehicles. There is a huge, white building nearby with glass balconies, overlooking the city.

The three men all get out of the vehicle and they help me with my large dress which is ripped and all dusty and black from my journey here.

Eventually, they are able to pull me out and we all walk up the metal stairs together. I hike-up my torn and blackened dress as I walk, luckily the stairway is large, so I don’t have a lot of issues with manoeuvring my dress. However, my feet ache to the high-heavens and the fact that I’m not wearing any shoes made this worse.

Then we walk down a long, white hallway, our footsteps echoing loudly.

We stop by a wooden door and Sehun unlocks it with a set of keys and walks through.

Jongdae follows him and Chanyeol chivalrously offers for me to enter before him. I thank him and walk through, however my dress gets caught in the doorway.

_Oh, why me?!_

I groan and try to move but I can’t.

Sehun and Jongdae turn around, having noticed that I couldn’t get through.

“I’m stuck.” I say quietly with a red blush at the situation.

“I’ll help you, Princess.” Jongdae says with a smile, walking towards me. He takes my hands in his and a warm pulse shoots up my arms.

I’ve never held a man’s hand before, the only exception being when I had to hold Jongin’s hand (reluctantly) during our engagement party.

Chanyeol’s hands wrap around my waist from his place behind me. I jump at the contact, the heat of his hands oozing through the material of my frumpy dress.

“Please don’t kick me again.” Chanyeol says as I turn around and look at him. “I’m only helping you, that’s all.” He says, looking into my eyes sternly.

I give him a small warning glare and he returns it.

Then the two men help me through the doorway, Jongdae is pulling and Chanyeol is pushing.

Not long after, I hear a loud ‘rip’ as I stumble through the doorway, Jongdae catches me and I blush as his strong arms wrap around me, pulling me close to his hard chest.

I look up and into his eyes as he stares down at me.

We both look away and Jongdae releases me from his arms.

I look down and my eyes widen. My red, frumpy dress has ripped, and the fabric is shredded on the floor around my feet, the hem now reaches my knees. I gasp, having not worn a dress so short before, I’m nearly naked for goodness sake!

“Sorry Princess. Your dress is all ruined.” Sehun says as he gathers the ripped fabric of my dress from the floor, Jongdae steps away from me to help him.

“It’s okay.” I say with a blush. “I hate this dress anyway.”

Chanyeol walks through the door and closes it behind him, then he helps Jongdae and Sehun pick up the discarded remnants of my dress.

Whilst they’re doing that, I look around the large, open-plan space, illuminated with white light. There are a couple of large, comfy chairs and it’s slightly messy and disorganised, there are dirty plates on the stained coffee table and there’s a large, fluffy red rug in the centre of the room.

“Woah…” I breathe to myself, having never seen anything like it before but I love it, it’s so different to things back home…

There is no need to light any candles, and the space is so bright, not dark and dingy like at the palace.

“Um, Princess?” Sehun calls.

I turn around and meet his eyes. “Yes?”

“Would you like a shower?” he asks. “You’re trailing dirt everywhere.”

I raise an eyebrow, looking down at the wooden floor and indeed there are black, dusty footsteps from where I’ve been treading.

“I sincerely apologise.” I say with a blush, not believing my rudeness.

They all stare at me for a little while.

Jongdae chuckles mellifluously, breaking the small silence. “You’re so formal, Princess.” He remarks with a kitty-smirk, folding his arms over his hard chest. “You speak very old-fashioned.”

“Old-fashioned?” I say, folding my arms. “Well, you sound quite rude, Mr Jongdae.”

Jongdae’s eyes widen as he stares, and he looks utterly shocked. “Rude?” he splutters. “This is how I normally speak!”

“Where I come from, men are better spoken than you.” I say frankly, not used to being spoken to so informally. “Well, not all of them are.” I grumble to myself, thinking of my toe-rag fiancé Jongin. I quickly push him away, not wanting to think about him at all at the moment.

“Where are you from then, Princess?” Chanyeol asks with an arch of his brow. “The dark ages?” he remarks with a small chuckle.

“The 17th century.” I say honestly without batting an eyelid.

They all stare at me as if I had large tentacles protruding out of my forehead.

“Okay…” Sehun says, breaking the silence and we all look towards him. Then Sehun catches my eyes. “Shall I show you the bathroom?” he asks.

I nod, I’m in need of a wash, my body is smelly, and I feel grimy all over.

Sehun smiles, gesturing for me with a wave of his hand to follow him.

I follow him down a brightly-lit hallway and he enters a bedroom. I hang by the door as he opens a drawer, taking out a baggy shirt and some long sweats.

Sehun walks out of his room and catches my eyes. “Follow me.” He commands softly.

I nod and follow him as he opens a door. Immediately, blight lights flicker on and I stare wide-eyed with a gasp. There was no need to laboriously light candles because with a simple switch of a button, the room was nicely illuminated.

Fascinating.

I look around the small, white bathroom, there’s a pile of towels and clothes in the corner and the sink is grimy, the whole room is in need of a deep-clean.

Sehun notices me crinkling my nose. “Sorry it’s a bit messy, we’ve had a big presentation to work on this week. So, we haven’t had a lot of time to clean.” He explains, running a hand through his russet tresses and I can’t help but notice how the colours and tints in his hair seem to bounce and refract in the light.

I simply nod, not understanding what this ‘presentation’ was.

Then Sehun puts the clothes and a towel onto the bathroom counter. “Here’s a towel and some clothes for you to change into.”

“Thank you.” I say softly.

Sehun smiles and walks towards the bath with a large red polka dot curtain around it. He opens the curtain. “Here’s the shower.” He says.

I walk towards him as he grabs a lever and pulls it to the right. Immediately, a stream of water blasts through, splashing against the tub.

“Woah!” I gasp in surprise, holding my hand out and putting it under the stream of water. It’s nice and warm, and it looks clean.

Sehun smiles. “You look as if you haven’t seen a shower before, Princess.” He remarks.

I turn to him. “Well I haven’t.” I say honestly then I turn back to the ‘shower’. “This is incredible!” I beam, having never seen anything like it.

Sehun chuckles softly and I blush at the beautiful sound. “How do you wash where you come from, Princess?” he asks.

“Well, I have my own private baths at my palace and my servants wash my hair and body for me.” I respond.

“Servants?” Sehun breathes, his eyes widening.

I nod with a smile, then I remember Bokhee and I stop smiling, I don’t know whether I’m going to see her again or not…

Sehun clears his throat.

I jolt out of my suddenly sad thoughts and turn to him.

“Well, uh…here’s some shampoo and conditioner you can use.” Sehun says, gesturing to two bottles sat on the rim of the bathtub. I nod. “So, I’ll leave you to it.” he says with a small cough then he walks towards the door.

I turn around and stare after him in slight confusion then I blush, feeling stupid that Sehun would wash me. I barely know him, and I am completely missing the fact that he is a _man._

I blush, shaking myself from my mental ramblings, I wasn’t used to bathing by myself—Bokhee always washes my hair and body for me.

“Thank you, Mr Sehun.”

Sehun turns around with a light dusting of pink on his cheeks. “Uh, just Sehun is fine, Princess.” He says.

I blush. “Oh, um okay.”

Sehun nods with a smile and walks out, closing the door behind him with a click.

I’m now all alone with the shower, the sound of running water reverberating against the walls and through my body.

I catch my reflection in the grimy mirror, and I gasp at how terrible I look. My hair is all over the place and my dress is ripped and dirty. My sleeves are gone.

Then I blush at the fact that I had been in the presence of such handsome men whilst looking such a state.

I push away my embarrassment as I reach around to take off my dress, however this is unsuccessful, my dress was done up so tightly and it needed four people just to help me put it on earlier today for the wedding…

After a little while of no luck, I don’t know what else to do, and suddenly I have an idea and I quickly block it out with a blush. It went against all the etiquette that I’ve been told ever since I was a young girl.

But I’m desperate, I need to get this large, frumpy dress off me.

With a deep breath, I open the bathroom door and walk out into the hallway, I can hear the three men talking nearby and I walk towards the sound.

I enter the large, brightly lit sitting room. Jongdae and Chanyeol are sitting on the huge comfy chairs whilst Sehun is mopping up my dirty footprints from the wooden floor.

“Um…” I say and the three men look up and meet my eyes.

“Princess, what’s wrong?” Sehun asks, putting the mop into the bucket. “You’ve been a while.”

I blush and shift my feet. “Um…I can’t…uh…get my dress…”

The three men seem to understand what I’m trying to say and they all blush.

“Do you need some help?” Jongdae asks, the least embarrassed of the three of them.

I freeze, peeking up at him from my lashes. I swear that I’ve never been so shy with men like this before!!

The three men all look at each other.

“I’ll help you.” Jongdae says with a polite smile, getting up from the squishy, comfortable chair and walking towards me.

I begin to panic, a furious blush sweeping across my cheeks. “N—no!” I splutter, backing away from him. “You can’t help me!”

He stops and cocks his head to the side. “Why not?”

“Well, because you’re a man!” I say in a fluster. “It’s not proper for you to help a lady out of her clothes…unless…uh…”

“Unless what?” he asks, taking a step towards me.

Chanyeol and Sehun are also staring at me and I blush hard. “N—nothing.” I stutter, clamping my mouth shut.

Then I scuttle out of the room and down the hallway towards the bathroom.

I enter and close the door, holding a hand to my heart. I can’t believe that I had actually gone out there and asked one of them to help take my dress off! What was wrong with me?! It was wrong! I’ve only just met them!

I push away from the door and reach around myself, attempting to take off my dress for the umpteenth time, however the more times I try, the more difficult it’s getting.

“Stupid dress!” I growl as I clench my fists, wanting to punch something.

There is a knock at the door, and I freeze.

“Princess?” Jongdae’s voice calls. “Are you sure that you don’t want any help?”

“Um…”

“I won’t look at you if that makes you feel more comfortable?” he suggests.

I think through his words. I really need to get this dress off and I don’t have a lot of choice. I can either bathe in my dress or Jongdae helps me out of it.

I decide on the latter.

“Okay.” I say, my voice hoarse, my heart pounding.

Then Jongdae walks through and closes the door behind him.

The room was now steamy and hot as the water has been running for a while now.

I meet Jongdae’s eyes with a blush and turn around so that my back is facing him. I move my tangled, black tresses out of the way, revealing the buttons of my frumpy, red wedding dress. “I can’t reach these buttons.” I explain in a whisper.

“Okay.” he says, walking towards me and I can feel his fingers undoing the buttons of my dress.

I grip the sink counter and I can’t help but blush, not used to having a male touch me like this, more less taking my _clothes_ off for me!!

I turn my head slightly and peek at him.

Jongdae was being true to his words because his eyes are fixed on the floor as he unbuttons my dress, and this calms me only slightly, but it doesn’t change the fact that this handsome man—whom I have only just met today—is taking off my clothes for me.

It’s quiet, other than the sound of water pattering against the bath and my body feels warm all over.

My dress slowly comes undone and I hold the front of it to prevent it from falling off my body. I can feel his fingertips skimming the skin of my back every so often. I blush, electrified tingles flitting across my skin and shooting down my limbs.

“All done.” Jongdae whispers after a little while, but to me it felt like a decade.

I turn around, holding my dress securely against my chest. We both blush and look away from each other.

“Thank you.” I murmur, avoiding his eyes.

“You’re welcome.” He says, running a hand through his dirty-blonde tresses.

I peek up at him and catch his eyes, an unexplored muscle in my belly clenches and heats up.

Jongdae continues to stare and there’s something swirling within his irises which makes me blush. “I’ll leave you to shower now.” He says.

I nod.

He smiles and quickly walks past me and out of the hot bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I let out a breath and wait for a couple of seconds, just to ensure that he’s actually gone. Then I allow my frumpy, red dress to tumble down my body, gathering in a dusty, ripped mess at my feet. I step out of it and take off my silky white underwear and vest top.

I’m now naked as I step into the shower and drench myself under the hot water. I let out a surprised gasp, having never had water so warm before, it is so unlike my private baths back at the palace.

I smile and relax under the water, the soot and dirt slips from my body and swirls down the plughole.

I grab the bottle of shampoo that Sehun pointed out to me and observe it curiously. It takes me a little while to figure out how to open it, and eventually I’m able to squirt some thick, scented gloop onto my hand.

I scrub it into my mess of hair and immediately it foams up and the smell of oud wood and vanilla fills my nose.

Then my hand finds something hard in my hair and I tug it out. It’s a fragment of my intricate gold headpiece. I turn it around in my hands and put it on the rim of the bathtub.

I continue to rinse my hair under the hot water and the foam curls down my body and down the drain. Then I scrub the conditioner into my hair, the same scent filling my nose. I wash it out thoroughly, finding more little fragments of gold in my hair from my broken headpiece and some leaves and twigs.

Once I’ve finished washing myself, I look towards the lever and grab it, turning it to the left and immediately the water turns freezing cold.

“AH!” I scream in shock, piercingly cold water hitting my flushed, naked body.

I scramble to try and turn off the shower, but I keep switching between hot and cold and the rapid change in temperature shocks my body.

There’s a bang at the door.

“Princess?” Sehun’s voice calls. “Are you alright?”

“No!” I cry, still trying to turn off the stupid shower. “I can’t turn it off!”

“Just put the lever in the middle, okay?” Sehun commands.

I do as he says and turn the lever so that it’s sitting in the middle.

Immediately, the shower stops gushing water and the bathroom plunges into silence.

I breath out in gasps, my body is dripping wet and I’m breathing hard, my heart pounding, so relieved that it’s all over. “Thank you Sehun.” I call, wiping my wet hair out of my eyes.

“It’s okay.” he says, and I can hear his footsteps walking away from the door and getting fainter.

I now know that I hate showers. They didn’t behave. I’ll definitely be sticking to baths from now on, and hopefully I’ll be returning home soon, so this’ll probably be my first and last ever shower…

I frown, suddenly becoming worried. What if I could never find my way home…?

_What if I’m stuck here?_

_Forever._

I shake my head quickly, my heart thrashing in my chest in worry at the thought

_Of course, there had to be a way home! Don’t be stupid!_

I take a deep breath to calm my racing thoughts and my heart. Then I open the shower curtain and step onto a fluffy rug.

I grab the towel that Sehun left for me and dry myself with it. Then I slip on the clothes. The shirt is baggy and reaches my mid-thigh and the long, baggy sweats are covering my feet, they are loose around my hips—nearly falling off.

I dry my hair with the towel, it’s still messy and tangled. I frown at my bird’s nest in the mirror and look in a small cupboard which is full of unfamiliar objects. I can’t see anything which looks like a hairbrush.

After a while, I give up looking and exit the bathroom, walking towards where I can hear voices.

I enter the living room and all three handsome men are sat there, their eyes glued to a large screen on the wall which is glowing and there are images moving in it.

I involuntarily gasp, having never seen anything like it before.

It looks incredible.

I walk further into the room and Sehun looks up with a smile. “Do you feel better?” he asks, and Jongdae and Chanyeol look away from the glowing rectangle on the wall to catch my eyes.

I nod. “Yes, thank you so much.” I say with a smile.

The three men return my smile.

“Princess, come sit.” Chanyeol says, patting the seat beside him.

I smile and shuffle towards him, one hand holding the waistband of the long cotton sweats as I walk and sit down on the comfy seat.

“Ooh.” I breathe in surprise, having not expected the seat to be so squishy and comfortable.

The three men smile and chuckle softly at my reaction.

“Are you hungry?” Sehun asks.

I frown at myself as my stomach gives a rumble at the thought of sustenance. “Yes.” I say with a nod.

“I’ll get you something.” Sehun says, standing up from a blue leather armchair and walking out of the living room.

In his absence, I snuggle against the comfy seat, looking at the glowing rectangle on the wall in wonderment.

“What is that?” I ask, pointing to it.

Jongdae and Chanyeol follow where my finger is pointing.

“That’s the TV.” Jongdae answers with a small, cat-like smile.

 _“TV?”_ I whisper, the word is foreign on my tongue.

Jongdae and Chanyeol share a look.

“Yeah, it’s where you watch TV programmes, sports, the news and cartoons. We play video games on here too.” Chanyeol explains, putting down a strange, flat rectangle which is glowing.

I look at them both, not knowing what to say because I’m so confused.

“Princess, have you ever had a TV before?” Jongdae asks, rubbing his chin.

I shake my head. “There’s no such thing as a ‘TV’ in the 17th century.” I respond. “So, no.”

The two men share a look and as Chanyeol is about to say something, Sehun walks into the living room with a steaming pot in his hands.

“I hope you like ramen, princess.” He says, handing me the pot.

I raise an eyebrow and take a peek inside the pot. There are steamed, chicken flavoured noodles sat inside. “Thank you, Sehun.” I say.

Sehun passes me a fork and takes a seat on the armchair again.

I look down at the food again and my stomach rumbles at the delectable smell.

I’m so hungry, I hadn’t eaten for what feels like forever. In fact, I think the last thing that I had eaten was a steamed potato which I stole from the palace kitchens earlier today.

I dip the fork into the noodles and twirl them, then I take a bite. I almost moan at the delicious taste…

_Oh god…_

I tip my head back as I chew….

_It’s like heaven…in a pot…ah…where has it been all my life?!_

I open my eyes and blush when I realise that all three handsome men were staring at me.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Chanyeol remarks with a smirk.

I blush even more and nod then I turn to Sehun. “What is this?” I ask, pointing to the steamy, chicken deliciousness.

“It’s instant ramen.” He replies with a shrug as if it’s the most prosaic thing ever.

“Oh…” I breathe to myself then I twirl some more noodles around my fork and eat another bite.

_Oh my…god…this is beautiful…_

The three men laugh softly to each other then they all turn and watch the ‘TV’.

I continue to eat my chicken ramen and also watch the TV. It’s silent for a while, however I can tell that the three guys want to say something because they would all give each other little looks every so often and then they would look at me.

“Princess?” Sehun says after a while of watching the TV.

I look towards him, swallowing my mouthful.

“Where are you really from?” he asks, running a hand through his russet tresses and Jongdae and Chanyeol turn to me, also waiting for my answer.

“Korea.” I answer, then I pop in another forkful of delectable ramen.

_Oh, it tastes so good…_

Sehun shakes his head and rests his elbows on his thighs. “No, I mean, what year?”

I swallow my last mouthful. “The 17th century.” I respond quietly.

All three men share a sceptical look.

“Are you a historical role-player?” Chanyeol asks all of a sudden, staring at me with his wide, brown eyes.

“Chanyeol!” Jongdae intervenes before I can respond.

“What?” Chanyeol says. “I mean, do you really believe she’s _actually_ from the past?”

“Well where else is she from?” Jongdae says, waving a hand in the air in frustration. “She’s confused, you can tell that she’s disorientated. When we found her, she asked what the _year_ was for goodness sake! She hasn’t even heard of a TV either!”

Then realisation dawns on me at Jongdae’s and Chanyeol’s words.

That was it.

I had time-travelled.

Somehow, when I ran away from my marriage ceremony and fell into that large hole in the forest, I had time-travelled almost _five centuries_ into the future…

_What have I done?_

“Oh no…” I whisper as I put down the empty pot of ramen, cupping my face.

The three men stop talking and turn to me.

“Princess…” Jongdae says.

“Oh no…I’ve time-travelled…” I murmur, my mind trying to register my words and my situation, my heart quivering and breaking with worry.

_What am I going to do?_

“Princess—”

“How am I going to get back home?” I splutter, my heart pounding in my ribcage. I’m in the future, the _future!_ I stand up, my body trembling. “I need to go home.” I say shakily.

Even though I had wronged my family and Jongin’s family for punching and refusing to marry him, I knew that I couldn’t stay in the future, I didn’t belong here.

“Princess, please sit—” Chanyeol begins to say, taking my wrist in his hand.

“I need to find my way home now!” I growl, tugging my wrist roughly out of Chanyeol’s grasp.

Then I rush out of the living room and down the hallway towards the front door. The long sweats gather under my feet and tears begin to pool in my eyes at the possibility that I may never be able to return home…

“Princess, we said we’ll help you find your way home in the morning.” Jongdae calls, walking towards me. “So please just stay here for the night, it’s late now anyway.”

I whip around and meet their eyes and I resist the urge to cry but I can’t help the little tears leaking out and trailing down my cheeks. I turn my head and gather my tears, not wanting these men whom I barely know to see me cry like this. 

“Don’t cry Princess.” Chanyeol says softly, walking towards me and pressing me against his hard chest. “You’ll find your way home, don’t worry.”

I blush at the sudden action however I melt against him; his arms wrap around me and I can’t help but cry even more. I really want to go back home, even though my father probably hated me now…

I cry into Chanyeol’s shirt and he holds me close. He’s warm and comforting and I can hear his heart in his chest, its heavy beats resonating through my body.

I look up from his chest and meet Jongdae’s and Sehun’s eyes.

“Will you really help me?” I ask with a hiccup, wiping my tears with the back of my hand.

“Of course, we will.” Jongdae says. “We promised after all.” He adds, looking at the other two who nod solemnly at me.

I look between them and I can see truth in their eyes. So, I decide to believe them for now.

Then I yawn, covering my mouth with a hand.

The action attracts the three men and they turn to me.

“You must be tired.” Sehun notes, looking at a dial strapped to his wrist.

I nod, feeling a wave of fatigue flooding my senses, my limbs are achy. It’s been an eventful day and my body is shattered and in need of sleep.

“Can I go to bed now?” I ask.

They all look at each other.

“Where’s she going to sleep?” Chanyeol asks, still holding me close.

“What about the spare room?” Sehun suggests. “There’s a bed in there from when Baekhyun-ah used to stay over.”

The other two nod.

Chanyeol releases me and I allow Sehun to lead me down the hallway. I wave good night to Jongdae and Chanyeol as they enter their respective rooms for the night.

Sehun continues to lead me towards a door and we both walk through. He flicks on a switch, illuminating a messy room which is full of boxes, books and clothes all gathered in large, cluttered piles. It smells of dust.

I try and suppress my surprise at the lack of candles and how bright the room is.

“Sorry it’s messy, Princess.” Sehun says as he opens a white wardrobe, taking out some fresh bedlinen. “We use this room as storage and our friend used to stay in here when he came over.”

I nod and look around the room. The white walls are bare and boring and there’s a simple white curtain covering a window. Other than that, the room is cluttered and slightly dusty. There’s also a desk with books piled on it.

When Sehun finishes putting the new covers onto the bed, I walk over and settle under the sheets. The mattress is bouncy and comfortable compared to my hard mattress back in the past.

“You comfy?” Sehun asks, staring down at me.

I snuggle against the pillows, meeting his eyes with a smile. “Yes.” I say.

“Good.” He says, running a hand through his russet tresses.

_I wonder how soft his hair is…._

“Anyway, uh…Good night Princess.” Sehun says softly, ripping me out of my thoughts.

I blink and blush red, utterly surprised with my train of mind. “Good night, Sehun.” I squeak out, hoping that he doesn’t notice how red my cheeks are or how loud my heart is beating.

Sehun nods and turns off the light, walking out of the room and closing the door.

I settle into the pillow, a wave of tiredness washing over my fatigued, aching body.

I close my eyes and curl myself into a ball. I try and keep the tears away, but I can’t help but cry just a little bit at my situation. I’m far away from home, in the future.

_The future…_

I scrunch my eyes shut, pushing away the thought which is still so new to me.

I can’t accept it…

I just hope that I’ll be able to find my way home soon and that these three men keep to their word and help me…

Hot tears trickle out and gather on the pillow as I cry softly to myself and soon, I fall asleep, my body finally relaxing after such an eventful day…

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!! Here is chapter 2 and I hope that you all enjoy!!!

 

 

 

****

 

 

It’s now morning, and I ease my eyes open, the sun streaming through a small slit in the curtains, casting light on the bare, boring white walls.

I blink and look around the room bleary-eyed. It looks even more dusty and cluttered that it did last night. there are cardboard boxes everywhere, white sheets covering large objects, clothes in piles against the walls. There’s a white desk at the end of the bed which is covered in books and other stuff and there’s also a large white wardrobe by the window.

Momentarily, I forget where I am, I didn’t recognise this room then, like a floodgate, it all comes rushing back to me, all that had happened yesterday and last night…

I’m currently in the future…

 _Five centuries_ in the future to be exact!

My eyes widen. I can’t believe it…

It still seems like such a strange concept to digest, in fact I don’t want to accept it…I want to go home however I know that if I go home, I’ll have to face the consequences of punching my toe-rag fiancé Jongin and running out of my marriage ceremony.

I pinch my arm and cry out.

_Nope, this isn’t a dream…I’m definitely still in the future…_

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door.

“Princess? You awake?” Jongdae’s voice calls.

_Oh, yes, and I’m still in the abode of three very handsome men who found me last night…_

I sit up in bed. “Yes…” I call.

The door opens and Jongdae pokes his head through. His dirty-blonde tresses are slightly damp, and his clear skin is dewy from a wash. “Good morning.” He greets sweetly with a cat-like smile.

I blush, pulling up my shirt which had fallen from my shoulder. “Good morning Mr Jongdae.”

Jongdae’s eyes follow my movements then me meets my eyes. “Just call me Jongdae.” He says with a wave of his hand then his eyes widen as if remembering something. “Oh yeah, are you hungry? Sehun’s making breakfast.”

My stomach rumbles and I nod. “I’m so hungry.” I breathe with a smile.

Jongdae smiles back. “Come.” He says, gesturing for me to come over.

I flip open the duvet and slip out of the warm, bouncy bed. I hold the baggy sweats up as I shuffle towards him, dodging boxes and discarded clothes as I do so.

Jongdae allows me to exit the room first and we both walk side-by-side down the hallway, then with a gentle hand on the small of my back, he leads me into a small, brightly-lit kitchen with a view of the azure-coloured summer sky. There are some potted plants dotted around and strange equipment that I have never seen before.

Then I catch sight of Sehun wearing a white apron, he seems to be cooking something delicious in a pan and Chanyeol is sat at a round, wooden table, dressed in grey sweats and a white shirt like me.

Chanyeol looks up from a strange glowing object in his hand and smiles. “Morning!” he greets happily and Sehun turns and smiles at me.

I blush, not used to the lack of a title, however it doesn’t bother me much. “Good morning,” I say as Jongdae guides me towards the small, round table which is laid out with cutlery.

I take a seat next to Chanyeol, and Jongdae sits on my other side.

Sehun turns away from the stove and puts a warm plate of breakfast in front of me. “Morning.” He greets with a smile as he sits down at the last seat at the table, taking off his apron. “How did you sleep?”

Jongdae and Chanyeol also turn to me and I blush at the attention. “I slept very well last night.” I say. “What about you?” I ask, looking at the three men in turn.

“It was good.” Chanyeol says, rubbing his forehead. “Other than the fact that I’m hungover as fuck…”

“Language…” Jongdae admonishes quietly with a glare at Chanyeol.

“Hungover?” I whisper with a tilt of my head.

“Chanyeol had a bit to drink last night, so he has a headache.” Jongdae explains smoothly.

I turn to him and nod. “Oh.”

“Eat up, Princess.” Sehun says, gesturing to the food in front of me and the others pick up their cutlery and begin to eat ravenously.

My mouth waters as I look at my plate which is festooned with a fried egg, some rashers of bacon, grilled tomatoes, hash browns, baked beans and buttery toast.

It smells so delicious and my stomach rumbles as I pick up my cutlery and eat a bit of fried egg…

_Oh…my…_

I swallow my heavenly mouthful, never having had anything so delectable before.

The food in the future is so… _exquisite._

“Sehun.” I say, looking at the russet-haired man.

Sehun looks up from his breakfast with a raised eyebrow and I can feel the others’ eyes on me as well.

“This is so delicious!” I beam with a wide smile. “Thank you very much!”

The three handsome men all smile charmingly at me and I blush pink at the intensity.

“You’re welcome, Princess.” Sehun says as he stares at me. “At least someone here actually takes the time to appreciate my cooking…” he grumbles, darting an evil eye at Jongdae and Chanyeol who look up and begin to complain.

“Hey! We always appreciate your cooking!” Chanyeol contends through a mouthful of bacon.

“No, you don’t! You bastards never say a thing!” Sehun argues back with a scowl and a huff. “And stop chewing with your mouth open!”

The three men continue to bicker whilst I eat, so consumed in this delectable deliciousness. I can’t help but smile at their silliness, they seem to get on very well even though they bicker like children.

“So, how old are you Princess?” Chanyeol asks from beside me all of a sudden.

I blink and drift out of my thoughts. “I’m twenty years old.” I answer, then I pop in a delicious rasher of bacon.

They all share a look and blush.

“Oh god, you’re so young…” Jongdae murmurs, putting down his knife and fork with a clink as he stares at me.

“How old are all of you?” I ask, sweeping an eye around the three, handsome men.

“Well, Chanyeol and I are twenty-six.” Jongdae replies, looking at Chanyeol who nods, eating a slice of toast.

My eyes widen and then I turn to look at Sehun who glances up from his bacon and meets my gaze. “I’m twenty-four.” He says.

“Oh my…” I breathe to myself as I stare at them all with a blush. “You’re all so _old!”_ I blurt out without thinking.

The three men gasp, looking _very_ offended.

“We’re _not_ old!” Chanyeol splutters with a glare at me.  

“If you were in the 17th century you’d be quite old…” I say in my defence. “Normally people die at around thirty…depends on whether you’re rich or not…”

“We’re not in the 17th century anymore sweetheart, so we’re not seen as old here.” Jongdae says, shaking his head with an amused chuckle.

I blush at the endearment and how smoothly it fell off his tongue.

Jongdae catches my blush and smiles, flashing me a wink.

I smile back, his smiles are infectious—I like them.

“Yeah and we have a lower mortality rate in the 21st century.” Sehun adds as he sips some orange juice. “Some people can live until they’re a hundred.”

I gasp, looking away from Jongdae. “Really?!”

They all chuckle at my surprise.

“Of course!” Sehun says, putting down his glass. “We have better medical care now than we did a couple of centuries ago, so people are living longer.”

“Woah…” I breathe as I break my egg yolk, watching as the orange liquid floods out onto my plate.

“A lot of things have changed over the years.” Jongdae says with a smile at me.

I nod in agreement, sweeping an eye around the kitchen, seeing all the strange appliances that I don’t even know the name of, and I can’t even begin to speculate as to what they might do.

“So, is your name actually Princess?” Sehun asks all of a sudden as he munches on some bacon.

“Well, in my time, I’m actually the Crown Princess of Korea.” I say, dipping my toast into my egg yolk and taking a bite.

_Wow…I like this combination…yum…_

“Wait, hold up.” Chanyeol says, staring wide-eyed and we all look at him. “Are you telling us that you’re an _actual_ princess?!” he asks, leaning close towards me.

I blush at his proximity and lean away from him with a nod. “Yes, I’m a real princess.”

They all gasp and stare at each other.

“Wicked!” Jongdae breathes to himself with a smirk, rubbing his handsome chin as he stares at me.

“Why is that so surprising?” I ask with a raised eyebrow as I continue to coat my toast in delicious egg yolk and I take a bite.

“Well, we don’t have royalty in Korea anymore.” Sehun explains.

I cover my mouth and swallow my mouthful. “Really?!” I splutter as they nod. Then I wonder what had happened within five centuries for the royal family to not be here anymore…but in a way…I really don’t want to know…

“Didn’t you say last night that you were getting married?” Jongdae asks all of a sudden, spearing his bacon and taking a bite.

I nod with a sigh. “Yes, I had to marry this toe-rag, but I refused and walked out of the service, then I fell down a hole in the forest and that’s how I’m here…” I say then I frown to myself, it sounds utterly ridiculous coming out of my mouth.

“Who’s the toe-rag?” Chanyeol asks with a chuckle as he reaches for another slice of toast from the toast rack.

“Prince Jongin.” I say with a scowl. “He’s a rich nobleman’s son. I’ve known him ever since I was a child. He’s terrible and so, so infuriating!” I seethe, clenching my fists around my knife and fork.

The three men all share a small look.

“You were getting married so young…” Sehun notes with a frown, eating a forkful of beans.

I nod. “It’s quite common for girls to marry young, some of them younger than me. I didn’t want to marry…but my father had it planned for me ever since I was born…” I grumble, eating the last of my fried egg. “Are you guys engaged or married?” I ask, looking at the three handsome men.

They immediately start and shake their heads vigorously with red blushes.

“No way!” Chanyeol says with an embarrassed laugh. “We have the occasional girlfriend but nothing more. It doesn’t last long and it’s only for a bit of fun, if you know what I mean.” he says, turning to Jongdae and Sehun at the last part who smirk widely, looking away from me and blushing down at their breakfasts.

I gasp with a furious red blush, staring wide-eyed at them all and having a very vague idea of what Chanyeol was getting at.

“We’re all single at the moment actually.” Jongdae pipes up, looking at Chanyeol and Sehun who nod.

“Oh my…” I breathe, having never heard of men being with unmarried women like this. It must be common in the future, not everyone got engaged and married and more people were promiscuous…

“You okay Princess?” Sehun asks and Jongdae and Chanyeol also look at me.

I nod with a blush. “Yeah…um…”

“It’s not normal for unmarried people to date a lot in the 17th century, is it?” Jongdae asks.

“No, it isn’t normal at all…” I say as I take a bite of my hash brown.

_Oh my…this is just perfect…ah…_

The three men all smile at me, then they return to their breakfasts and I’m glad for the gesture because any more talk of this, I might explode from embarrassment.

As I polish up my delectable hash browns, I watch the three handsome men in interest. Sehun is a dainty eater, he doesn’t eat a lot and he’s very polite at the table.

Whereas, Jongdae and Chanyeol are particularly greedy, taking more foods from the plates on the table and polishing them all up. They left nothing on their plates when they eventually finished eating. Their stomachs must be bottomless pits…

After a small while of occasional conversation, we finish eating breakfast, all our plates are empty. I take a sip of water and put it down, then I regard the three handsome men when a thought occurs to me. “Um…”

They all look towards me.

“Will you guys help me find my way home today?” I ask, fumbling my hands in my lap.

“Of course, we will.” Jongdae says, rubbing my shoulder. “We promised you that last night, didn’t we?”

I meet his eyes and nod, relaxing against his touch.

“But where are we going to begin?” Sehun asks, leaning back in his chair. “It’s not going to be easy to get her back to the past.”

They all frown and I look down at my hands on my thighs.

“You came from that manhole, right?” Chanyeol asks thoughtfully, breaking the silence.

“Yes.” I say with a nod, looking up from my lap.

“Well, why don’t we go back there and see whether you can get back to the past that way?” he suggests, looking at the other two.

“That’s a stupid idea.” Sehun cuts in with a glare, folding his arms. “It’s not going to work, we can’t just go to that manhole and put her down there! It’s dangerous and she could have an accident!”

“But it’s an idea!” Chanyeol contends, leaning his elbows on the table. “She came from that manhole, so there must be a way for her to get back via there! There might be a secret passage or door she could take or something.”

“You’re talking nonsense.” Sehun says with a huff.

It’s silent as the two men glare heatedly at each other.

“Let’s try it.” I say, breaking the silence.

They all turn and stare at me.

“Are you serious?” Sehun splutters, his whole face saying: _“Are you mad woman?!”._

“Yes.” I say firmly. “It’s better than no idea at the moment and it’s a good place to start.”

They all share a look and then they turn to me.

“But Princess, there must be another way.” Jongdae says softly, still rubbing my shoulder and I can’t help but feel calmed by his touch there.

I shake my head. “Let’s just try it, okay?” I say, looking at them all.

They all share another look and I can tell that they don’t really agree with it.

Jongdae sighs and puts down his cutlery. “Alright, let’s get ready.” He says, standing up from the table.

Then we all follow his lead, Sehun gathers the plates and puts them on the counter and we all walk out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

The guys are about to go to their rooms when I notice a small problem.

“Um…guys?” I call with a blush.

They all turn and look at me.

“May I have a change of clothes please?” I ask.

They all share a look and blush.

“Jongdae-ah, you have a smaller build than us two, just give her your clothes to wear for now.” Chanyeol suggests.

Jongdae nods and walks into his room then he emerges with some sweats, a t-shirt and some flipflops. He hands them to me. “I’m sorry they’re not the best.” He apologises. “But it’s all I have at the moment and we obviously don’t have any girl clothes here and your dress is all ruined.”

“It’s okay.” I say as I hold the clothes securely against my chest and look up at him. “Thank you very much, Jongdae.”

Jongdae smiles and pats my head. “Get changed into these and then we’ll try and get you home.” He says.

I smile and nod, my stomach tingling in anticipation as I walk towards the spare room and put my hand on the door handle.

“Princess, that’s the bathroom.” Sehun calls, walking towards me. “The spare room is there.” He says, pointing to the door next to it.

I blush. “Oh, thank you, Sehun.” I say as I walk to the door and open it.

“It’s alright.” He says with a handsome smile as he enters his room next to the spare room and shuts the door.

When they are all gone, I enter the spare room and close the door firmly behind me.

I take off Sehun’s baggy sweats and t-shirt. Then I put on Jongdae’s pair of sweats, which are quite baggy but at least they sit firmly around my hips unlike Sehun’s which were loose. Then I slip on the long baggy shirt and the flipflops which are quite strange to wear.

When I’m dressed, I walk out of the spare room and see the guys all stood by the door in pairs of jeans and t-shirts.

I blush at how well the clothes are sculpted to their toned bodies, having never seen such complimenting garments before, considering the fact that clothes in the past are all frumpy and form-hiding.

“You ready, Princess?” Chanyeol asks with a smile, sweeping a hand through his curly chestnut locks.

I take a huge breath and nod.

I know that I’m ready to do this.

Then we all file out of the apartment and Sehun locks the door.

We walk down a couple of echoey hallways with more wooden doors lining them and after some questions, I find out that other people live here as well in their own living quarters.

Then we all take the stairs because apparently the ‘lift’ isn’t working. Whatever that is.

After we descend the masses and masses of stairs, we eventually emerge outside.

It’s sunny out and there are many people walking around and wearing scandalous clothes that show way too much skin for my liking.

We all stand at the entrance of the apartment as large vehicles with people inside them thrum past us, expelling disgusting, vile fumes which makes me cough and splutter.

“So, let’s get a map up on here…” Jongdae says as he gets out a flat, glowing object from his jeans pocket and taps on it.

I stop coughing and look up. “What is that?” I ask as I sidle towards him, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“What’s what?” Jongdae asks, meeting my eyes and then looking around him.

“What’s in your hand?” I ask, pointing to the thin, glowing object in wonderment. I have been meaning to ask what it was yesterday but the whole shock of being in the future distracted me from doing so…

“That’s a phone, Princess.” Chanyeol chuckles, patting my hair. “You can talk to people on it, play games, text, watch videos and all sorts.”

“Woah…” I breathe, staring at the ‘phone’.

It looks fascinating.

“And it can also show you maps.” Jongdae says with a kitty smirk as he turns the phone towards me and there is indeed an image of a map there.

But not the kind of map I’m used to, this map is full of vivid greens and blues and for one thing, it isn’t written with ink on parchment, it’s _inside_ that ‘phone’.

I vaguely wonder how the people of the future did that, but I have to admit, it’s insanely clever.

“Oh my…” I breathe as I stare.

The three men all laugh softly at my reaction.

“I love your reactions.” Chanyeol laughs, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. “You’re so expressive.”

I blush at our warm proximity, his hard chest so close against my body, before coming here I have never ever been in such close contact with males before.

This must be normal in the future then; men and women are more touchy-feely with each other…and I’m vaguely glad that Jongin isn’t in the future because I know that he’ll love the fact that intimate gestures are more commonplace in public here…

I blush a deep red and quickly shake off my thoughts. I hope and pray to all the gods that exist that Jongin never ever, _ever_ finds his way into the future at all!

All of a sudden, Jongdae clears his throat and I jolt out of my thoughts. “Now, here’s the manhole you came from, just on that street outside the bar where Chanyeol and I were at last night.” he explains, turning his phone towards me and pointing to the screen. “It takes twenty-five minutes to get there on foot.”

I nod. “Okay.”

“Oh, and whilst we walk, we can try other manholes too!” Chanyeol pipes up with a smirk, his hand stroking my shoulder from where I’m still pressed close against him.

Sehun shakes his head with a loud sigh and folds his arms. “That’s ridiculous—”

“Good idea, Mr Chanyeol!” I beam with a smile as I look up at him. He’s so tall that I have to crane my neck slightly.

Chanyeol blushes and scratches the back of his head. “Just call me Chanyeol…” he says then he grins widely at an unknown thought. “Or you can call me oppa if you’d like, Princess?” he adds sneakily with a wink.

“Oppa?” I ask with a tilt of my head.

Chanyeol blushes even more and so do the other two.

“Don’t call him that.” Sehun says to me as he whacks Chanyeol on the chest and shoots him a glare. “He’s being a fucking idiot.”

“Hey, no swearing!” Jongdae scolds, slapping Sehun’s arm.

I huff and fold my arms as they bicker and whine together—wasting time. “Can we go now?” I ask impatiently whilst tapping my foot.

It seems like men haven’t changed much within five centuries then…

They all stop glaring at each other and look at me.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Jongdae says and then we all walk down the street together.

Chanyeol being the tallest, powerwalks ahead of us with his long and strong legs, his chestnut tresses curling in the light, summer breeze.

We all follow Chanyeol and try to catch up with him. However, I have to run to catch up with them all, my flipflops slapping against the pavement as I go. 

“Hey, Chanyeol!” I call through my panting. “Wait up!”

Chanyeol stops and turns around, watching as we all reach him. He smiles and scratches the back of his head. “Sorry.” He says.

“It’s alright.” I say as Jongdae and Sehun stand beside me.

“Chanyeol, Princess is so short, so go slower.” Jongdae says with a chuckle.

“I’m not short!” I say with a growl, folding my arms.

“You are though, sweetheart.” Jongdae insists with a kitty-smirk as he ruffles my long scruffy black tresses.

“Come on, let’s just go.” Sehun says with a huff.

Then we all begin walking again, passing other people going their way, all of them dressed strangely in weird clothes. I can’t help but blush at some of the women wearing small skirts and low-cut tops and some of the men with their arms out, exposing their muscles.

_Did no one have any decency in the future?!_

I approach this question to the guys and apparently, it’s normal for people to wear such little amounts of clothing in public in the future, but still it makes me blush at the amount of skin that is on show.

Whilst we walk, we take on Chanyeol’s suggestion and check other manholes as well.

However, they are all too small to fit a human and not to mention some of them didn’t even open properly, so we all continue on our way to the manhole that I had emerged from yesterday as it was more likely that we would have more luck there.

I just hope that that will be the case…

Eventually, we arrive at our long-awaited destination.

“There it is!” Chanyeol says all of a sudden, pointing in the distance.

My heart shudders in my chest at his announcement and I feel anticipation creeping in my veins as we all near the orange barriers surrounding the manhole and slip through.

“Are you sure about this?” Sehun asks, looking around unsurely. “What if we get caught?”

“No, we won’t.” Jongdae says with a laugh and a dismissive wave of his hand. “The construction guys aren’t even here anyway.”

“Well, if we get caught, I blame you guys.” Sehun grumbles as he still continues to look around.

Some people walking nearby look at us curiously but as soon as they pass, they turn their heads and avert their eyes, continuing on their way but other than that, no one pays us any attention.

Jongdae and Chanyeol simply roll their eyes and shake their heads at Sehun who glares at them both.

Then we all gather around the manhole and I kneel and try to open it however I can’t, it’s tough and my arms are trembling.

“Move aside, Princess.” Chanyeol says gently with a hand on my shoulder as he kneels beside me.

I shuffle away and watch as he uses a large, metal stick to pry open the manhole cover, his arm muscles rippling at the exertion and drawing my eyes, causing me to blush.

Jongdae and Sehun also kneel with us on the tarmac.

Sehun is still looking around cautiously every once in a while.

Eventually Chanyeol is able to open the manhole cover and it pings off, revealing a large, gaping hole in the ground.

“Here we are.” Chanyeol says with a smirk as he moves the cover to the side which makes a terrible scraping sound against the tarmac that hurts my ears.

“Thank you, oppa.” I say sweetly with a smile up at him.

Chanyeol blushes pink and looks away whilst Jongdae and Sehun glare at him for some strange reason that I didn’t know.

I pointedly clear my throat and their eyes all shoot towards me. “Um…I’ll probably need some help getting down here…”

“You’re not still serious about going in there, are you?” Sehun says, looking at me as if I’m a madwoman.

“Well, of course.” I say with a roll of my eyes. “How else am I going to get back home?”

They all exchange an awkward look, none of them looking too keen about me going down there but it’s worth a try, anything to try and find my way home.

Then, sadness grips my heart as I regard the three very handsome men. “Well…” I begin and they all look at me. “This’ll probably be the last time I see you guys. Thank you all so much for your hospitality and for taking me into your home last night.”

“You’re welcome.” Jongdae says with a nod of his head and his kitty smile.

I blush and look away from him, meeting Sehun’s eyes. “And thank you Sehun for that delicious breakfast.”

Sehun smiles and blushes, weaving a slender hand through his russet tresses. “You’re welcome Princess.”

I also blush and smile, my heart fluttering in my chest. “Well, I guess this is it.” I say. “Goodbye guys.”

“Goodbye Princess.” Jongdae says, patting my head. “Be safe, okay?”

“I will.” I say with a nod.

“We’ll miss you, Princess.” Chanyeol says all of a sudden, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to his hard chest. I squeak with a blush at the suddenness of it “Even though we haven’t known you long…it’ll be quite weird without you…” he continues, rubbing my arm with a large, rough hand.

“We’ve only known her for several hours, how are you attached already?” Sehun asks, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow at Chanyeol.

“I get attached to people easily.” Chanyeol says with a huff as he continues to hug me close to his muscled chest.

“I’ll miss you guys too.” I say and they all turn to me and smile.

Chanyeol releases me from his hug and Jongdae and Sehun hug me as well and I can’t help but blush at all of this physical contact.

Then when hugs and goodbyes are over, I crawl towards the manhole and cautiously slip inside, my feet find the first rung of the cold, slimy ladder.

“You okay?” Jongdae asks, holding my hand as I adjust my feet’s position.

I nod. “Yes.” I say as I stand in the large manhole with my hands on the hard, spiky tarmac. I look up at them all as they stare down at me. “Goodbye.” I say, and strangely I feel sad whilst saying this.

A small part of me doesn’t want to leave just yet. But I know that I can’t stay in the future, I need to go back to the past even if my father probably hates me now and I would probably be severely punished for punching Jongin and running out of my wedding ceremony…

I’m not particularly looking forward to that…

The guys all wave to me and I wave back, then I slowly descend into the cavernous, smelly and damp sewer again.

The ladder is cold and slimy beneath my hands and I cringe at the feel of it, but I put this to the back of my mind and focus on the task at hand.

Then I reach the bottom and my feet make contact with the ground.

I look around the large space which is better illuminated than yesterday due to the daylight streaming through from above.

The whole place is empty and there’s no glittery blue dust around my body or heavenly windchime and harp sounds in my ears.

“Princess?” a voice calls from above all of a sudden.

I look up, seeing Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun looking down at me from the entrance of the manhole above and I’m vaguely surprised that they are still there.

“Are you alright?” Sehun asks.

“Yes.” I call, then I walk away and look around desperately, feeling the cold, dank and slimy walls in an attempt to uncover an entrance or an exit of some sorts. I don’t have even the faintest clue as to how it was possible that I time-travelled to the future last night or _where exactly_ I emerged from…

“Have you found it yet?” Chanyeol calls down to me after a little while.

I jump in surprise and stop my investigations.

_I can’t believe they’re still here!_

“No!” I call, beginning to get frustrated as I run up and down the length of the cavern, frantically looking for an exit. “Oh, come on!” I growl, resisting the urge to punch the stone wall however I really don’t want a broken hand right now.

“Princess, it’s been half an hour already. I don’t think you’ll find it.” Jongdae calls down to me.

_Has it really been that long?! It feels as if I’ve only been down here for mere seconds…_

“I need more time!” I shout up at them. “I’ll find it…I know I will…” I say quietly to myself, but I know that I’m only trying to convince myself that that is the case however I try and ignore this thought as I continue to scour the smelly, dank space.

I rush around, the flipflops slapping against the wet ground and frustrated tears pouring down my cheeks as I do so. “Oh please…I need to go home…” I whimper to myself, my body shaking in utter worry.

_How was I going to get home? I didn’t even know where to start for goodness sake! I’m not entirely sure how it was possible for me to enter the future in the first place!_

“Princess I don’t think it’s working.” Sehun calls after a little while, his dulcet voice ringing into the dark space and through my body. “You’ve been down here for over an hour now…”

_Over an hour?!_

“But I need to get home…” I whimper, tears cascading down my cheeks as I continue to look around, half-hoping for some sort of entrance to make itself known or even that glittery blue dust to begin swirling around me.

But nothing happened.

 _Absolutely nothing_ happened…

“Come on, why don’t you climb out of there? Okay?” Jongdae says gently, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I walk across the damp, cold ground towards the shaft of blue light and stare up at the three handsome men who are still there, looking down at me from the entrance of the manhole.

“I can’t come out, I still need to find my way home…” I call up as tears continue to rain down my cheeks.

“Come on sweetheart, I don’t think you’ll be going home today.” Jongdae says, staring down at me with his calm, brown eyes. “It’s cold and wet down there, so please come up.”

My heart quivers in my chest when he calls me ‘sweetheart’ and more tears trickle down my cheeks at the prospect that I may never return home or that I may never ever see my father or Bokhee again…

“Come on Princess…” Chanyeol prompts gently.

“But what am I going to do?” I whimper as more tears escape and I try to wipe them away, feeling embarrassed that I’m crying in the presence of three very handsome men. “I want to go home.”

The three men all stare down at me with furrowed eyebrows. “I know sweetheart, but please come up here, okay?” Jongdae says, looking at me imploringly.

I stare up at him and I know that staying in this dark, dingy space is not going to help me find my way home at the moment.

But…did I actually _have_ anything to come back to in the past?

Sure, I had my father and Bokhee but…other than that there is no one else. My mother died when I was very young and I didn’t particularly enjoy my life as the crown princess of Korea, in fact I resented it. I’ve always hated the bulky, disgusting dresses, the itchy makeup, the stupid etiquette and the fact that I would have to marry my childhood nemesis Prince Jongin and have _children_ with him…

_Ew…_

Maybe…staying in the future wouldn’t be so bad? And I definitely don’t want to know what would happen to me if I do return home because I know that I will get punished for punching Prince Jongin and running out of my marriage ceremony.

With a sigh, I look up at the three handsome men who are still staring down at me and I walk to the slimy, cold ladder and ascend it.

My heart is pounding so hard in my chest as I go, my limbs trembling at the prospect of never returning to the past again…

When I reach the entrance of the manhole, the three guys help me out and Chanyeol puts the cover back over it securely, the grinding metal sound piercing my ears, sealing my only possible exit from the future.

As soon as I’m out, Jongdae pulls me into a huge hug, pressing me close to his hard chest so that I’m sitting in his lap.

I don’t have time to feel embarrassed about being in such proximity with a man because all I want to do is cry into his shirt and let my tears fall harder.

Sehun pats my shoulder and I turn my head curiously towards him as he hands me a tissue.

I say, ‘thank you’ and take it from him, wiping my eyes and nose. However, more tears continue to stream down my cheeks.

The three men say nothing as I cry and tremble, all of them pitying me to some extent. I’m still in slight disbelief that they had stayed with me, even though they could have left and gone back to their lives, yet they chose to stay and for that I’m very grateful…

However, I now know that I probably wouldn’t be returning home for a while and that I would never see my father or Bokhee ever again and I was stuck here in the future without a way out…

Jongdae continues to hold me, his hand stroking my back in comfort and I can’t help but lean into his touch, his warmth…I feel protected in his arms and I never want to let go…

“Princess?” Chanyeol says tentatively after a little while.

I blink and wipe away some of my tears, meeting his eyes.

Their faces all sadden at the sight of me and I know that I must look an absolute wreck and that my face is all blotchy and red.

“What am I going to do?” I croak at them all. Then I blush and clear my throat, feeling so utterly embarrassed at having elicited such a vulgar sound in front of three very handsome men. “How am I going to get back home?”

They all look at each other and I snuggle closer against Jongdae, my hand scrunches in his white t-shirt and from where my head is leant against his chest, I can hear the hammering beats of his heart as they pulse through me. The sound is comforting.

“Why don’t she stay with us?” Chanyeol asks all of a sudden, breaking the silence.

Our heads all whip towards him in shock.

Chanyeol falters under our gazes. “Well we did find her, so she is like our responsibility now I guess…” he explains with a small, pink blush.

“True.” Jongdae agrees as he continues to stroke my back in comfort. “We are the only people she knows here.”

“So, Princess.” Sehun says, his eyes latching onto mine as he sweeps a hand through his russet tresses. “Would you like to stay with us?”

“But that’s if you want to of course.” Jongdae adds, still stroking my back.

I look up and meet the gazes of the three very handsome men.

I blush at all the attention and snuggle closer against Jongdae’s hard chest. “Well…I wouldn’t want to be a bother…” I say quietly.

“You wouldn’t be a bother at all.” Jongdae murmurs into my ear, his warm breath tickling my hair. “So, what do you think? Would you feel comfortable with us, sweetheart?” he prompts, continuing to stroke my back with such comfort.

I bite my lip and look down at my clasped hands.

I don’t have much choice, there is no easy way for me to go back to the past and the manhole didn’t transport me back to the past like I thought it would.

These three men have been so nice and welcoming to me ever since I arrived here.

I know that I can trust them.

And besides, I don’t know if I really did want to go back to the past just yet so close after I had punched Jongin and ran out of my marriage ceremony. It’s not as if I love my status as the crown princess, so this is a chance to live a different life without that heavy responsibility weighing on my shoulders…

I break myself out of my thoughts and meet the eyes of the three men. “Please may I stay with you guys?”

They all share a look and smile.

“Of course, you can.” Jongdae says, hugging me closer and Chanyeol and Sehun nod with smiles.

“Thank you so much.” I say, truly grateful for their hospitality and I know that I really owe them now.

“You’re welcome.” Chanyeol says, patting my knee. I tense under his touch, not used to males touching me there however I can’t see anything malicious in his eyes, so I allow it, wanting to trust my new friends. “You are new to the future after all and it would be cruel of us to just let you go on your own like that.”

“So, you guys are okay with it?” I ask.

They all exchange a look and nod. “Yes, we’re all fine with it.” Jongdae says, pulling me closer and I blush at our proximity, feeling his strong body so close to mine.

“Now that you’re staying with us,” Sehun speaks up and we all turn towards him. “I think we need to get you some more ladylike clothing.” He says with a frown, eyeing Jongdae’s sweats, large t-shirt and flip flops that I’m wearing.

“What?” I say. “I like them, they’re comfy.”

Jongdae and Chanyeol chuckle fondly, causing me to blush however Sehun’s frown deepens.

“Ladies in the future don’t wear clothes like that.” Sehun says, folding his arms. “And besides, it’s not like we have anything planned this weekend, so we might as well go shopping for some clothes for you.” He continues, looking at Jongdae and Chanyeol who shrug and nod.

“What do ladies in the future wear?” I ask.

“Well, I’ll show you Princess.” Sehun says with a suave smile as he stands from the tarmac and brushes down his jeans, Chanyeol follows his lead. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Wipe your eyes, sweetheart.” Jongdae whispers.

I blush and wipe away the last of my tears from my eyes and cheeks with the tissue. Then I stand up and Sehun steadies me with an arm around my waist.

Jongdae stands up after me and dusts down his jeans then we all walk across the tarmac and slip through the orange barriers.

It’s silent as we all walk down the pavement. Jongdae and Chanyeol are up ahead whilst Sehun is with me, his arm around my shoulders and I feel comforted by his touch there.

I can’t believe that I’m staying in the future…but I know that it can’t be that bad, I prefer to be here than in the past at the moment, where I would probably be brutally punished and forced to marry Prince Jongin.

Eventually, we stop in front of a large building displaying clothes in the windows and I can hear music blaring from within.

“Let’s go in here.” Sehun says. “This shop in particular is quite popular with young women at the moment.”

We all nod and enter the shop which is full of young women looking through clothes on racks and on displays.

As Sehun leads me through with his arm around my shoulder, I look around at all the strangely made clothes that I’ve never seen before, some of them are shining and reflecting the light with strange patterns on them and phrases that I don’t understand like: ‘OMG’, ‘LOL’ and ‘Amazeballs’.

Sehun stops and removes his arm from around my shoulder to look through some tops on a rack.

I stand there awkwardly as he does this, not really knowing what to do or what to look through because all the clothes are so alien.

“Princess.” Sehun calls.

I look towards him as he presses a frilly pink tank top against me, his eyes squint then he shakes his head and puts it back on the rack and picks out a white tank top instead, pressing it against me. This time he nods and holds the tank top as he continues to scour the place.

Someone pats my shoulder and I turn around and see Chanyeol and Jongdae stood there with wide smiles on their faces. “We found something you might like.” Chanyeol says with a chortle.

“What is it?” I ask with a smile.

They exchange a look and a wry smirk.

“We’ll show you.” Chanyeol says as he takes my wrist in his hand and leads me off somewhere, Jongdae following behind us.

I allow Chanyeol to lead me past racks of clothes and other female shoppers and eventually we arrive at a shelf.

Jongdae takes something off the shelf and shakes it out. “This.”

It’s a pink t-shirt with the words: **“I’m a pretty princess!”** emblazoned on it.

“No way!” I growl with a beet red blush, slapping the foul garment away. “I’m not wearing that!”

Jongdae and Chanyeol erupt with chortles.

“But it’s perfect!” Chanyeol insists through loud bouts of laughter. “It’s got your name all over it!”

“No way are you getting that dreadful thing.” a voice says from behind us.

We all turn around and see Sehun standing there with a bunch of clothes stacked in his arms.

“Oh, come on, Sehunnie.” Jongdae says as he puts the ugly pink shirt against me. “It suits her, doesn’t it?”

“It’s ghastly.” Sehun says with a curl of his lip and internally I celebrate that he’s on my side. Then Sehun turns to me. “I have some clothes for you to try on.” He says, indicating for me to follow him.

I nod and follow him, glad that he had saved me from that torture.

Chanyeol and Jongdae follow behind us both whilst still trying to contain their laughter.

Eventually, Sehun reaches a set of curtains and I follow him through.

Sehun puts the clothes onto the bench inside and sorts through them.

“I wasn’t sure about your size, so I just guessed. They may be a bit too big or too small, so just tell me if they are or not…” he explains.

I nod. “That’s okay.”

Sehun takes a frilly floral skirt and a white tank top and hands them to me. “Try this on first.” He says.

I blush, looking at the scandalously short skirt.

“Come out when you’re ready okay?” he says. “And if there’re any problems just call.”

“Okay.”

Then Sehun exits the changing room and closes the curtain behind him.

I turn back to the garments and with a sigh, I take off Jongdae’s flipflops, sweats and long shirt and I put on the tank top and skirt.

I look in the mirror and blush like a very ripe tomato at the amount of skin that’s on show. The skirt’s hem brushes my mid-thigh and the tank top is well-sculpted to my body with only two flimsy straps holding it up.

“Princess?” Sehun calls all of a sudden.

I blush and look towards the curtain. “Yes?” I squeak.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “You’ve been in there for a while.”

I blush. “I’m okay.” I say, then I walk towards the curtain and cautiously step out.

Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun’s heads snap towards me and I blush even more when they examine me from top to bottom.

“I don’t like this.” I stutter out after a couple of awkward seconds that felt like decades.

“What’s wrong with it?” Jongdae asks with a tilt of his head.

I freeze, my eyes widening in shock at the fact that he sees nothing wrong with it. If I was in the past, I would be classed as butt-naked right now!

“Well, the skirt is way too short for me and I feel too exposed…” I explain, feeling the frilly hem.

“Well…it is what girls here wear…” Sehun says with a pink blush of his own, looking up and meeting my eyes.

“I think it looks good.” Chanyeol pipes up with a lazy smirk as he scans me. “It suits you, Princess.”

I blush even more. “I’m not wearing this!” I say decidedly, looking up at Sehun. “I don’t feel comfortable.”

“That’s okay.” Sehun says gently, guiding me back to the dressing room and closing the curtain. Then he sifts through all the clothes and frowns because most of them are short, frilly skirts and tank tops.

He puts them to the side and hands me a pair of jeans and a small, red t-shirt which is more fitted to a woman’s form. “Try these instead and I’ll take the skirts and tank tops back.”

I nod as he gathers the frilly skirts and tank tops and walks out of the changing room, closing the curtain after him.

When he’s gone, I take off the frilly floral skirt and the white tank top. Then I put on the red t-shirt, it’s comfortable and not too long like Jongdae’s and Sehun’s shirts. It’s slightly fitted to my curves which admittedly I quite like. Then I slip on the jeans and look in the mirror, blushing pink at how the fabric is very tight around my thighs and hips.

I’m not used to wearing trousers, sometimes I wore breaches when doing morning exercises back in the past…but even then, they were quite baggy…but…I actually like these jeans.

After a couple of deep breaths, I walk out of the curtain and my three friends scan my clothes again.

“Do you like them, Princess?” Jongdae asks after a little while.

I nod. “Yeah, I quite like these.” I say, honestly. It’s a nice change from wearing frumpy dresses all the time…

They all smile then Sehun blushes all of a sudden as if noticing something.

“Uh…you’re not wearing any underwear under there, are you?” he asks, his blush intensifying.

Jongdae and Chanyeol also blush as they stare wide-eyed at me.

_Oh no…_

“No…” I say quietly, blushing like a beetroot.

Sehun lets out a small sigh and then he meets my eyes and quickly looks away. “Alright, get those off and we’ll look for some for you.” he says as Jongdae and Chanyeol exchange a small smirk and a chortle.

I nod and retreat into the changing room, closing the curtain behind me. I take off the jeans and t-shirt and put Jongdae’s sweats, flipflops and t-shirt back on again.

When I’m done, I tell Sehun that I’m decent and he comes in and puts the clothes back on their hangers, keeping the t-shirts and the jeans to one side.

Then we both walk out and Jongdae and Chanyeol are nowhere to be seen.

I frown and look around the large space full of clothes. “Where’re they?” I ask.

Sehun also frowns and looks around then his eyes land on somewhere and he shakes his head. “Those perverts…” he grumbles.

I raise an eyebrow and follow Sehun’s gaze.

I blush when I see Jongdae and Chanyeol looking through strange, delicate frilly garments with wide smirks and blushes.

With a sigh, Sehun puts some of the clothes back and keeps about three pairs of jeans and a selection of t-shirts in his arms. Then we both walk towards Jongdae and Chanyeol who turn towards us.

“Princess, which one do you prefer?” Chanyeol asks, holding up two frilly pink garments that I don’t even know the name of.

“What are those?” I ask with a blush however I have a small suspicion as to where you wear them…

The three handsome men blush pink, suddenly looking awkward.

“They’re bras.” Jongdae explains, the slightly less flustered out of the three of them. “They keep your breasts in place I guess.”

I blush hard.

“And not to mention they’re quite aesthetically pleasing to us men.” Chanyeol says sneakily as he picks up a frilly powder pink bra and panty set. “I really recommend this one.” He says with a wink.

I blush a whole new shade of red that I’m not even aware existed until now. “You pervert!” I splutter, slapping his arm.

“Hey! I’m giving you an opinion!” Chanyeol insists with a huff, still holding the powder pink bra. “This one’s cute and girls love shopping for cute underwear in the future…”

I wouldn’t be surprised if I could fry an egg on my burning face right now.

“So, you’ll probably need several pairs because you don’t have any.” Sehun says as he looks through them all, picking out a white ‘bra’. “I suggest you get a white one definitely.” He says, holding it as he picks out a pack of white panties.

I nod with a blush, not even looking at the three handsome man.

Someone pats my shoulder and I turn around. “Please get the powder pink one.” Chanyeol pleads, still holding it in his hands.

“No!” I blush, slapping the bra away and folding my arms. “I don’t like the colour pink!”

“Hey! Be careful!” Chanyeol scolds as he picks up the silly bra and dusts it down. “These things aren’t cheap you know…”

“You’ll probably need to try them on.” Sehun says thoughtfully all of a sudden. “Because they come in different sizes.”

I blush and allow Sehun to lead me to the changing rooms again. Then he speaks to a lady sales assistant, asking her to measure me for my size.

I look at Sehun with wide eyes. “I’m not sure about this…”

“It’s okay.” Sehun reassures, stroking my arm. “She’s not going to take your top off. She’ll just measure on top of it.”

I stare into his eyes and I decide to trust him. “Okay.” I say as I follow the lady into a changing room. And like Sehun said, she did measure me over my shirt however it was a bit awkward…

As soon as it was done, the lady tells me my size and I exit the curtain.

Then I join Sehun and with a monumental blush I whisper my size to him, keeping my eyes on my feet.

Sehun blushes and clears his throat. “Alright then.” He says, leading me back to the bras and panties.

I then notice that Jongdae and Chanyeol are nowhere in sight again. Those two seem to like going off together…

Sehun notices me looking around. “I sent those perverts away.” He explains. “They were beginning to get bored.”

I breathe a small, relieved sigh, glad that they will be gone for a little bit so that I can look at these bras in peace.

Sehun picks up a new white bra in my size and I choose several other bras and matching panties with a blush, I particularly like this lacy lavender purple one and a satin sky blue one…

After I had tried on some of the bras and decided on several of them, Sehun and I look around the large shop a bit more.

Sehun picks out some simple blouses for me and they aren’t overly girly which I quite like. And I choose some socks. Then I get my feet measured and I pick two pairs of shoes. I particularly like the black ‘converses’ that I picked out.

A little while later, I’m beginning to get bored of clothes shopping. I never liked shopping in the past anyway…Sehun notices how tired I’m getting, and he takes the clothes over to the ‘cashier’. The sales assistant lady scans it through on a strange, beeping contraption.

When the total price appears on a small screen, I gasp.

“Oh my! That’s so much…” I breathe.

“It’s okay.” Sehun says as he takes out his wallet and gets out a card.

I don’t say anything, instead I watch in interest as he puts the card in a machine and types on it.

This must be a new futuristic invention because it seems as if there’s money on that card. So, there is no need to haul around bags and bags of heavy coins.

_Impressive. Well done, future._

When Sehun had paid, the sales assistant lady puts all my new clothes into some bags for us and gives them to Sehun.

Then Sehun leads me towards some changing rooms and I change into the white bra and matching panties, a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt which is well-fitted to my curves.

It took a little while to put on the bra, but soon I was able to fasten it and pull the straps up my shoulders.

It’s quite a strange sensation, having this wire and fabric thing on my breasts and I know that it’s going to take some getting used to however like Chanyeol said, it is quite aesthetically pleasing. I can’t refute that…

Then, I put on some socks and my new black converses.

When I was ready, I exit the changing rooms with Jongdae’s clothes and flipflops, putting them in one of the many carrier bags.

“Thank you so much, Sehun!” I beam, looking up at him with a smile.

Sehun returns my smile and readjusts the bags in his hands. “You’re welcome, Princess.” He says. “Do you feel comfortable in them?”

I look down at myself then I meet his eyes. “Yes! It will take some getting used to these…jeans but I think I can manage.”

Sehun nods. “Now, shall we collect those two perverts?” he asks as we walk out of the shop together.

I giggle. “Yes, let’s do that.”

Then we both exit the shop and Jongdae and Chanyeol are both sat on a bench nearby, looking at their phones and chortling about something together.

We approach them and they look up.

Chanyeol smiles and whistles. “Looking good, Princess.” He says, scanning me in my jeans and t-shirt.

I blush and smile back.

“Nice converses.” Jongdae points out, slipping his phone in his jeans pocket. “They’re like mine.” He says with his kitty-smirk, showing me his shoes and indeed he is also wearing black converses.

We both share a smile and a laugh.

“Well, what do you wanna do now?” Chanyeol asks all of a sudden, standing up to his full height and putting his phone away.

At that moment, my stomach gives a vile noise.

It goes silent and the three handsome men all look towards me and I blush.

“Someone’s hungry…” Jongdae says with a smile as he stands up. “You wanna get something to eat?” he asks me.

I nod, rubbing my empty stomach. “Yes, please.”

The three men nod and Chanyeol and Jongdae begin to walk in front.

“Hey!” Sehun calls.

Chanyeol and Jongdae turn around, both with their hands in their pockets.

“At least make yourselves useful and carry some of these!” Sehun says, holding up the many bags.

With a huff, Jongdae and Chanyeol walk towards us and take some of the bags containing my new clothes from Sehun and we all walk down the streets in search of something to eat.

Whilst we walk, I catch sight of a stand of some sorts selling ‘hotdogs’ and it smells amazing. There’s a queue, so it must be popular whatever it is…

I stop and tug on the back of Sehun’s shirt.

Sehun turns around. “You okay?”

“What are hotdogs?” I ask and Jongdae and Chanyeol also hear my question and stop.

“Basically, it’s meat in a bread roll with condiments.” Jongdae explains, readjusting the bags in his hands.

“Princess you have to have one of these!” Chanyeol gushes with a wide smile. “This can be like your initiation into the future!”

“Are they tasty?” I ask.

“Duh, of course they are!” Chanyeol says with a roll of his eyes.

“Do you want a hotdog Princess?” Sehun asks, looking down at me.

“Sure.” I say and they all smile.

“Good choice!” Chanyeol says rubbing his hands together as we all approach the hotdog stand and wait in line.

When it’s eventually our turn, we all get a hotdog each and Jongdae pays for my one.

“Thank you, Jongdae.” I say sweetly as he hands me my hotdog.

Jongdae smiles. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

I can’t help but smile back.

“You want some ketchup?” Chanyeol asks, holding a red bottle towards me. “It’s made from tomatoes and it’s really good.”

“I’ll try it.” I say, wanting to try all these riveting future foods.

Chanyeol smiles and squeezes the ketchup on my hotdog, and it came out in a very pretty squiggly line.

When our hotdogs are all dressed in ketchup or mustard or in Chanyeol’s case, both, we all sit on a bench nearby and the guys put down the shopping bags and begin to eat.

I look at my hotdog and it smells amazing, my stomach rumbles at the delectable scent.

I vaguely wonder how the meat was made into a tube shape however I put this to the back of my mind, my hunger taking over. So, I take a bite and chew…

_Oh…lord…_

“How is it?” Chanyeol asks with a smirk from beside me.

I swallow my mouthful and smile. “It’s so good…” I breathe, taking another delicious bite.

_Wow…I love future food…_

The three men laugh softly at me as they continue to eat their hotdogs and I blush.

“Princess, you have some ketchup on your chin.” Sehun says as he gently wipes my chin with a napkin.

I blush and swallow my mouthful. “Thanks, Sehun.”

“You’re welcome.” He says.

Then the four of us all eat our hotdogs together over light chatter and I can’t help but feel comfortable in my new position here in the future.

For the first time in a while I don’t feel restricted and bound by rules unlike my time in the past as the crown princess of Korea…

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

After we finished our hotdogs, the guys and I visited a pharmacy together on Sehun’s insistence that I needed toiletries like a toothbrush, toothpaste, lady shampoo and conditioner, bubble bath and ‘deodorant’.

When we finished at the pharmacy, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Sehun and I wandered around the city of ‘Seoul’ for a little while.

I have to admit that it’s beautiful, but a different kind of beautiful and I couldn’t help but be in awe at how different it all was to back home in the past…

When we arrived home in the early evening, it was decided that the storage room would become my permanent sleeping quarters.

Sehun helped me put my new clothes into the large, dusty white wardrobe and he even ‘vacuumed’ the floor for me so that it wasn’t dusty anymore.

After having done that, we all hung out in the living room together and watched the ‘TV’ which I now adore.

“How does the TV…um…function?” I ask after a little while whilst munching on this delectable, sugary snack named: ‘popcorn’.

Jongdae turns and meets my eyes from his seat next to me on the comfy, brown leather sofa. “It runs off electricity.” He explains softly.

I pause and raise an eyebrow. “Eklec…?”

 _“Electricity.”_ Chanyeol corrects with a smile down at me.

“Eklectricity?” I attempt with a grimace.

“It’s electricity, sweetheart.” Jongdae says with a fond smile down at me, sweeping his fingers through my black tresses.

I frown. “That’s a horrible word to say.” I grumble, folding my arms.

The three men all chuckle mellifluously at me.

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a tongue-twister.” Sehun agrees as he sips some ‘coke’ from a can, lounging in the squishy blue armchair.

Then Jongdae calmly explains to me what electricity is and I can’t help but be in awe at all these fantastic inventions from the future.

They are ingenious, why don’t we have them in the past?!

“So, the TV runs off…um eklectricity…?” I say after Jongdae’s explanation, staring at the beautiful, glowing rectangle on the wall.

“You mean _electricity?”_ Chanyeol corrects, looking up from his phone.

“Yeah, that.” I say with a nod and a small smile.

Chanyeol nods. “Yep, just like the lights.” He says, pointing to the ceiling lamp.

“How fascinating.” I breathe to myself. “What about your phone?” I ask, pointing to it.

Chanyeol looks at his phone. “That runs off a battery.” He says. “However, I have to charge it every so often with my charger.” He explains as he leans towards the side table and grabs a long lead, then he puts the end of it in his phone and a green lightning bolt flashes on the screen. “Like this.”

“Ooh…” I breathe in awe as I stare.

“It’s not that exciting, Princess.” Chanyeol chuckles as he settles back beside me, making himself comfortable against the squishy seat.

“But I’ve never seen anything like it!” I say with a huff. “So, you can’t blame me for being excited! The future is so interesting!”

“Well, duh you are from the past, so you would say that.” Chanyeol says with a roll of his eyes and a laugh and Jongdae and Sehun join in.

I grumble at the three handsome men, then I return to my popcorn and watch the TV.

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

The weekend passes smoothly, during that time I get to know more about my three new friends and about the future.

I have learnt about so many new things and I now knew the names of the strange appliances in their apartment and what they did—only vaguely though.

And some words are difficult for me to say, like eklectricity. I hate that word.

However, I’m finding myself really liking the future so far but a small part of me misses the past still, and it’s going to take a while to get used to how the future works…

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It’s now Monday morning and I wake up to the sound of footsteps and slamming of doors.

I groan and bury myself deeper in my duvet however the sounds get louder.

_What are those guys up to?!_

So, with a huff, I slip out from my warm, comfy bed and walk out of my room in my fluffy purple pyjamas to investigate.

I see Jongdae down the hall wrapping a weird ribbon around his neck and wearing very smart clothes.

All of a sudden, he looks up and smiles. “Morning.”

“Morning.” I say back, walking towards him.

“Jongdae-ah? Where’re those papers for the morning briefing?” Chanyeol calls, emerging from the living room and looking quite flustered then he sees me and smiles. “Hey Princess.” He says, sweeping a hand through his unruly chestnut tresses.

“Hey.” I say then I look between them “Um what are you—”

“Those papers should be on the kitchen table, Yeol.” Jongdae says with a roll of his eyes before I can get my sentence out.

Chanyeol nods. “Oh, yeah. That’s it!” he says, rushing away, his footsteps echoing throughout the apartment.

“Um…what are you guys doing?” I finally ask.

Jongdae finishes tying that strange ribbon around his neck, then he puts down his shirt collar and looks at me. “We’re getting ready for work.” He says with a small frown.

“Oh…” I say. “When will you be back?” I ask.

“Much later.” Jongdae says in an apologetic tone. “Maybe around seven…”

“That’s so long…” I observe.

“Yeah, that’s life in the future for you.” he says with a small chuckle. “Long hours and hardly any play.” He continues as he slips on a black suit jacket and walks towards a mirror, checking his nicely styled, dirty-blonde tresses.

I frown at his words. People in the past also work long hours too! Especially in agriculture and in the mercantile industry.

Then Chanyeol comes back with a briefcase in his hand, checking himself in the mirror along with Jongdae.

“Hyungs?” Sehun calls as he walks out the bathroom and bends down, picking up a briefcase from the floor. “Are you ready to go?”

I blush as I look at him, observing how well the smart clothes fit his tall, slender body and how his russet tresses are nicely-styled on his head…

“Oh, good morning, Princess.” Sehun greets with a charming smile down at me.

“Ugh…Morning, Sehun.” I say with a smile, hoping that he doesn’t notice my blush.

Then Jongdae and Chanyeol look away from the mirror and turn to me.

“So, as I said, we probably won’t be back until late…” Jongdae says with a frown as Chanyeol and Sehun nod.

“Can I come with you guys?” I ask.

They all smile and laugh softly.

“You’ll just get bored, Princess.” Chanyeol says. “And besides, you’re not an employee so you might not be allowed to sit in our office with us.”

I pout and they smile at me. “But what am I supposed to do?” I ask, folding my arms over my fluffy purple pyjama top.

They all look at each other with a grimace. “You’re staying here today.” Jongdae says.

I frown, glaring at the three of them.

“We’re sorry Princess but it’s not like we’ll be gone forever.” Sehun says, patting my shoulder.

“I know that…” I grumble with a blush, surprised at how clingy I’m acting. I’ve only known these men for a couple of days for goodness sake!

“And if you’re hungry at all, there’s food in the fridge and you know how to work the TV now so you can watch that.” Chanyeol says.

I smile, beginning to get excited about watching the glorious TV all day.

“Or you can make yourself useful and do some washing up and tidy your new bedroom.” Sehun pipes up with a small smirk.

I pout and they all laugh.

Suddenly, Jongdae clears his throat and we all look at him. “Also, if you have any problems at all, just call any of us on the handset.” Jongdae says, pointing to a phone in a dock on a small side table. “You just pick it up and dial any one of our numbers which I’ve written down for you.” he says, indicating a small slip of paper beside the handset.

I nod.

“Alright then, be good okay?” Chanyeol says, ruffling my messy, black tresses.

“Oppa!” I whine at him as I move away.

Chanyeol blushes and clears his throat, looking away from me.

Jongdae and Sehun also blush, glaring at Chanyeol.

“Bye guys!” I say, breaking the suddenly tense atmosphere.

They all stop glaring at each other and say their goodbyes to me whilst trying to get rid of their blushes.

Then they walk out of the door and shut it behind them, the sound ringing throughout the apartment and through my body.

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It’s now a couple of hours after my friends have left for work at the ‘office’ and I’m laying on the large, squishy brown sofa, munching on this delicious salty snack named: ‘crisps.’

After a while, I begin to get bored of the nature program about Japanese spider monkeys on the TV.

Sure, the TV is an amazing futuristic invention, but I’m not used to laying around and doing nothing all day.

I was unbelievably active in the future, what with my proficiency in martial arts and the fact that I exercised daily.

Then I remember what Sehun said this morning about cleaning my room. So, I grab the remote and turn off the TV.

I sit up from the sofa and stretch, shuffling out of the living room and down the hallway towards my new sleeping quarters which used to be their storage room.

I walk through, taking in the stacks of cardboard boxes, dusty books and folded clothes everywhere.

First, I tackle the boxes, shoving them to the side. Some of them are unbelievably heavy, and they all contain study books.

I curiously look through some of them, wanting to know what people in the future studied. The book that I picked out was full of pure mathematics and I find myself staring in awe at the intricacy of the drawings.

Then, I put the pure mathematics book back in its box and continue to shove the boxes to one side of the room.

As I begin to move the last box, I lift it, it’s heavy and the cardboard is tearing at the seams. Then the box breaks and paintbrushes, tubes of oil paints, cartridge paper and pencils fly out and roll all over the hardwood floor.

I gasp and smile, dropping down on my knees and gathering the art supplies. I stare in awe at the many different colours of paint and the paintbrushes which look well-used.

I vaguely wonder who’s they were…but for some reason I can’t imagine any of my three friends being artistic…

I push this thought to the back of my mind and observe all the tubes of oil paints in interest.

In the past, I painted using tempura, which was egg mixed with coloured pigments. However, oil painting in the future seems to have changed drastically since then and apparently, ‘white spirit’ was needed as a medium for the oil paint to move.

_What’s that?_

I look in the broken box and find a large bottle of clear liquid, stained with paint with the words: ‘White Spirit: Flammable’ emblazoned on it in huge red letters.

I smile and open it, taking a sniff. Immediately I gag and cough, quickly putting the lid back on again.

_That stuff smells foul!_

_Ew!!_

My eyes begin to water from the white spirit as I look around my boring, bland room and suddenly, I have an idea…

I pick up a well-used pencil with a blunt lead. I frown and look for a sharper one, but they’re all blunt and some of the leads have snapped.

So, I look inside the broken box for a knife or some sort. Eventually, I find a craft knife and use it to sharpen the pencil.

I smile when the lead is now sharp and glinting in the light of my room.

Then I stand and walk to one of the bare and boring walls with my pencil poised, ready to draw…

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

A long while later, I’ve finished drawing a faint outline of my home back in the past. I drew the grand palace, the mountains in the distance and the lush verdant forest that surrounds it.

When I’m satisfied with my drawing, I gather the well-used tubes of oil paints and squeeze some blue, red, yellow and white oils onto a palette which is crusted with year’s old paint.

Then with a couple of paintbrushes in the waistband of my sweats, I walk towards the wall and mix the paints together, dipping my brush in the white spirit. I crinkle my nose at the terrible stench however I persevere.

Anything for art.

Then I step onto the desk chair and begin to paint the sky, using light blues and pinks. My favourite time of the day in the past was early evening, just before the sun sets and I remembered my walks there at that time with Bokhee, my friend and maid.

It’s a while until I’ve finished my first coat of the sky and I move onto the trees, using lighter colours first.

I’m so consumed in my work that I hadn’t heard my bedroom door being opened.

“Princess!” Sehun’s voice gasps.

I turn away from my mural with a jolt. “When did you guys get here?” I ask, regarding the three men who are all stood in their nicely fitted suits, staring wide-eyed at my art.

“We got home just now.” Chanyeol says distractedly as he walks further into the room, his eyes fixed on my mural.

“Princess, we’re only tenants here, you can’t paint on the walls!” Sehun says with a frown as he walks towards me then he sniffs the air and coughs. “You haven’t even opened a window! White spirit is toxic to breathe in!” he says as he walks over to my window and opens it, immediately, cool air rushes through.

“Oh…uh…sorry.” I say weakly, pausing mid-paintbrush-stroke.

“That’s incredible though…” Chanyeol says as he stands beside me, taking in my work. “You’re so good at painting…”

I blush and smile, lowering my paintbrush. “Thanks.” I say then I turn back to my painting and continue adding the detail to the verdant green trees surrounding the palace.

“What is it of?” Chanyeol asks, still staring at it

“This is actually a painting of my home in the past…” I say, continuing to paint

“Really?” Chanyeol whispers and I can feel his wide eyes on me.

I nod. “Yeah.” I say, stopping my paintbrush’s movements. I feel a small, tingling feeling in my stomach as I stare at my mural.

“Well it’s amazing, Princess.” Jongdae says, breaking me out of my reminiscent thoughts. “It’s a great talent to have.”

“Thanks.” I say, lowering my paintbrush and dipping it in some more dark green oil paint, then I carefully apply thin strokes to the leaves of the trees. “My father never thought so…”

The three men pause and look up at me, but I don’t look at them as I continue to paint.

“Your father wasn’t a fan?” Sehun asks, folding his arms.

I shake my head. “No.” I say. “He believes that young women shouldn’t do art and that our only purpose is to be child bearers to men…” I explain with a scowl, adding a dash of canary yellow to the trees to show the sun’s rays bouncing off the leaves.

“That must have been difficult. Not having your father like your art.” Jongdae murmurs after a little while.

“Yeah, I guess it was.” I say quietly, dipping my paintbrush in the dark green paint again and continuing to add texture to the leaves.

“What about your mother?” Chanyeol asks. “What did she think?”

I pause, my hand shaking as I remove the paintbrush from the wall. “My mother actually liked my art.” I say, biting my lip as I swirl the paintbrush lazily in the paint. “She died when I was eight though…”

It’s silent and I can feel their eyes on me.

“We’re really sorry…” Sehun says, breaking the stillness.

I look up and catch their eyes as they stare at me sadly.

“It’s okay.” I say, continuing to paint. “It was a long time ago now.”

“What did she die of?” Chanyeol asks, earning some glares from Jongdae and Sehun.

“Tuberculosis.” I answer. “It’s quite common in the 17th century.”

The three men nod as I continue to paint then I put down my paintbrush and regard them all. “I’m really sorry for painting on your wall.” I apologise.

Immediately they start.

“Please don’t apologise, sweetheart.” Jongdae says. “We don’t mind you painting on it…”

“Really?” I ask.

The three men nod, however Sehun seems reluctant and I hear him murmuring under his breath about the ‘shitty landlord’.

“Thanks guys.” I say sincerely with a smile, then I turn and continue to paint my mural.

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It’s now Wednesday, and once again, I’m home alone painting my mural which has become much more developed since I started it on Monday, and I’m pleased with its progress.

I look down at the mixing palette and pick up the tube of Prussian blue paint, however there’s none left.

_No!_

I glare at the tube and put it down. I really want to finish the sky before I move onto the other parts of the painting and I can’t do much without more blue paint.

So, I put down the crusted mixing palette and stretch. I’ve been painting ever since I woke up this morning, so my muscles are aching, and my stomach is empty and in need of sustenance.

I look at the small alarm clock by my bed and it’s now half eleven.

I hop off the desk chair and walk to the window, looking outside and down at the ground below. Cars and buses trundle along the winding roads and the tall high-rises in the distance shimmer in the light of the summer sun.

I’m so unbelievably bored in the apartment all alone without my new friends.

Of course, I love painting, but I also love to explore, and outside that window is the _future._ Something that I never thought that I would ever have the privilege to see in my lifetime.

But now I’m here and It’s on my _doorstep_ for goodness sake!

I walk away from the window and open my wardrobe, taking off Jongdae’s sweats and t-shirt and putting on a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt that is fitted to my curves.

I brush my hair out and put on my socks and black converses. When I’m dressed, I walk down the hallway towards the door and open it.

I step out and close the door behind me, looking both ways down the large, echoey hallway. It takes me a while to find the right way out, but eventually I’m able to find the stairs and I descend them all and apparently the ‘lift’ is still broken.

Eventually, I emerge outside and look around, not sure where to go first, then I decide to walk down the streets towards the city like I did with the guys on Saturday.

I walk leisurely, absorbing the sights around me as I do so and in no time, I reach the sprawling city centre of Seoul.

It’s huge and jampacked full of people going here, there and everywhere.

I cross a couple of large roads, my eyes taking in all the unfamiliar sights, the trundling vehicles, the strange clothes, buildings, smells and the huge lack of trees and greenery which I’m still not used to…

I don’t like all these crowds, so I take a couple of quieter streets and eventually I find myself in a large open space with a couple of people. I can see the high rises in the near distance.

Then, I spot a marketplace of some sorts. So, I wander over there and take a closer look. Lots of different things are on sale it seems, there are clothes, bags and makeup.

_Ew…_

I steer clear of those and continue to look around, then I catch sight of a stall selling art supplies.

_Ooh! Art!_

I smile and walk towards the art stall. I stop and look at all the easels, canvases, paints, pencils, mixing palettes and more.

“Princess?” I hear a familiar voice exclaim all of a sudden.

I gasp and turn around with a jolt, seeing Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun all stood nearby, staring at me wide-eyed.

“What are you guys doing here?!” I splutter, putting a hand to my racing heart to calm myself.

_I hadn’t expected them to be here too! Were they stalking me?!_

“We’re on our lunchbreak.” Chanyeol says with a smile as he walks towards me.

“Also, why are you outside?” Sehun asks, putting his hands in his trouser pockets as he approaches me, Jongdae following behind. “You don’t even know the area that well…”

“I was bored so I wanted to explore for a bit.” I say then I turn back and look at all the amazing art supplies. “Look at all this! It’s incredible!”

“Princess—”

“Look! There’s even a _whole box_ of paints here!” I gush, bending down to get a closer look. “Oh! I need some of this…” I say thoughtfully, picking up a large tube of Prussian blue oil paint and examining it.

“Princess you have to be careful.” Sehun says with a sigh, walking closer towards me. “You don’t know the city that well…”

“I was careful! I am twenty years old, Sehun. I’m not a baby!” I say with a huff.

“Sehun, at least she’s safe, okay?” Jongdae interjects before Sehun can reply. “Now, are you hungry at all, Princess?” he asks, looking at me.

I turn away from the tubes of oil paints and meet his eyes, my belly rumbling at the thought of sustenance. “I am actually.” I say, patting my empty tummy.

“Good, because we’re about to have lunch, you wanna come with?” Jongdae asks.

“Sure.” I say with a smile, then a thought occurs to me. “Can I get some paint as well?” I ask, picking up a tube of Prussian blue oil paint. “I’m running out.”

The three guys all exchange a look.

Then Jongdae meets my eyes. “If we get you the paint, do you promise to be good and come to our office with us for the afternoon?” he asks.

“Why do I need to go there?” I ask with a frown, folding my arms.

“Because we won’t have time to drop you home before we need to get back to work.” Jongdae explains as Chanyeol and Sehun nod.

“And you can meet some of our work colleagues. They’d love to meet you!” Chanyeol adds with a wide, infectious smile.

“Um…” I say, looking at the paint and my friends then I sigh. “Fine. I’ll go to your office with you.”

They all smile and share a look.

“Good, now, let’s pay for this.” Jongdae says as he gets out his wallet and stands beside me, then he hands the money to the market vendor who puts my new tube of Prussian blue oil paint into a plastic bag and hands it to me.

Then we all walk out of the bustling marketplace and towards the busier part of the city.

“Where’re we going for lunch?” I inquire, looking up at my three friends.

Chanyeol smiles and wraps and arm around my shoulders. “We’re eating there.” He says, pointing to a building in the distance with two yellow arches above the doors.

I frown and raise an eyebrow. “McDonald’s?”

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah, it has amazing food. A world-class establishment in my opinion!” He says whilst Sehun subtly shakes his head and sighs.

“Really?” I breathe in awe as I turn to him. “Is it very popular in the future?”

Chanyeol nods his head vigorously. “It’s the best.” He says as he continues to lead me towards this ‘McDonald’s’ place.

We all pile inside and immediately I’m hit with the delicious scent of fried and salty foods.

It smells really good and I can’t wait…

We all walk over to the large queue and stand in line; the whole place is buzzing with people and all the food looks so appetising. I can feel my mouth drooling in anticipation…

“So, Princess, what do you fancy?” Chanyeol asks, his arm still around my shoulders as he looks down at me.

“Um…” I begin as I look up at the menu ahead of me.

There are so many different choices and I don’t even know what they are or where to start…

“Um…what’s a burger?” I ask.

The three men all share a look and smile.

“A burger is a piece of meat between two bread buns with some lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and condiments.” Sehun explains as Jongdae and Chanyeol nod.

“So…like a flat, circular hotdog?” I ask with a tilt of my head, still looking at the menu in front with images of the foods.

The three men laugh softly at me.

“Yeah, I guess it can be interpreted like that.” Jongdae says with his kitty-smirk whilst rubbing his chin.

“Ooh!” I breathe as I continue to look at the menu. “I want a burger!”

“Which one would you like?” Chanyeol asks. “There’s lots to choose from.”

“I don’t know…” I mumble, then I look at the three handsome men. “What are you guys getting?”

“A Big Mac like I always do.” Chanyeol beams as he points to a very large burger.

“Ooh…” I breathe, then I look at Jongdae and Sehun. “What are you guys having?”

“I’m getting a Big Mac, like Yeol.” Jongdae says with a smile.

Then I look at Sehun. “What will you be getting, Sehun?” I ask.

Sehun puts his phone back into his pocket and meets my eyes. “McChicken sandwich.” He says whilst Jongdae and Chanyeol snort, stifling laughter as Sehun glares hard at them.

I nod then I look back at the menu, the queue is moving quickly, and I still haven’t decided on anything.

“Princess, you have an idea yet?” Jongdae prompts.

I shake my head. “No! There’s too much choice!”

“Why don’t I choose for you?” Chanyeol suggests all of a sudden.

I look up at him and nod. “Yes please, Chanyeol.” I say.

He seems quite knowledgeable about this fine establishment, so I trust him to make a proper decision.

“Okay, you should get a double cheeseburger, some fries and chicken McNuggets.” He says as he points to each of the foods in turn. “Now what would you like to drink?”

I frown and look at the menu again, we’re a bit closer to the cashier desks now and the smell of delicious, salty food makes my mouth water even more. “Um…can I have a milkshake?” I ask, looking at a pretty image of a pinkish drink.

“Good choice, Princess!” Chanyeol beams, hugging me close to his side.

“What’s a milkshake?” I ask.

“The best drink ever made.” Chanyeol says as we approach the cashier.

I stare at him; however, he doesn’t elaborate as we all order our food and pay.

Chanyeol pays for my food for me, then we wait for our order and collect it. Once that’s done, we all find a place to sit in the crowded dining hall.

We all sit down at a table by the window and I’m next to Chanyeol.

“Here you are, Princess.” Chanyeol says with a smile as he places two boxes in front of me, a packet of fries and my strawberry milkshake.

“Thank you oppa!” I say sweetly.

Chanyeol blushes pink and runs a hand through his chestnut locks. “You’re welcome.” He says with a smile, avoiding the glares being thrown at him by Jongdae and Sehun.

I smile and turn away, opening the two boxes and immediately, delicious, salty smells waft out of them and hit my nose.

_Ah…it smells amazing…and I haven’t even tried it yet!! So, it must be good!_

I look around as the three handsome men tuck into their lunches and I pick up my burger and look at it, watching the ketchup glisten in the light.

“Go on, Princess. Take a big bite.” Jongdae says, looking at me from his seat opposite.

I nod, feeling all their eyes on me as I take a large bite out of my cheeseburger and chew.

_Oh…my…DEAR lord…_

I swallow and gasp, staring at the delectable deliciousness, also known as ‘burger’.

“What do you think?” Chanyeol asks, his wide eyes scouring my face.

I look away from my burger and regard the three handsome men in awe. “What’s that phrase you have in the future?” I ask.

“You mean: fucking amazing?” Chanyeol puts forward, taking a large bite of his burger.

“Hey! Language.” Jongdae scolds, glaring at Chanyeol.

“Yeah, that was it.” I say with a nod of my head, continuing to eat my absolutely delicious burger.

I can feel the three men’s shocked eyes on me, however I don’t take notice of them as I eat, so consumed in this spectacular food from the future.

When I finish my burger, I move onto my McNuggets and fries, and they taste just as good…

_Why does everything taste better in the future?!_

The three guys finish their burgers as I’m half-way through my delectable nuggets, dipping them in ketchup as I go.

Then, as I pick up a nugget, a hand swipes it out of mine.

“Hey!” I growl, turning in my seat as Chanyeol eats my nugget.

“What?” he chortles as he chews and swallows.

“That was my nugget!” I seethe, glaring hard at him.

“I did pay for your lunch after all, Princess.” Chanyeol shoots back with a smirk. “Take it as your repayment to me.”

I blush as he stares at me and quickly, I look away, continuing to eat my nuggets in silence.

We all continue to talk for a little while and when I’m finished, we all walk out of the beautifully smelling, world-class establishment.

“So Princess, how was your first ever McDonald’s experience?” Chanyeol asks with a smirk as he wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close towards him.

“Really good!” I say, sipping on my strawberry milkshake. “Can we go there again tomorrow?”

Chanyeol’s eyes light up “Yes of course—”

“No.” Sehun interjects. “That stuff is unhealthy, you shouldn’t have it often.”

“But it tastes so good!” I whine.

“But that doesn’t make it healthy.” Sehun says with a huff then he turns to Chanyeol with a glare that says: _‘Great, now you’ve got her addicted.’_

Currently, we’re walking through a large open space with tall, glimmering buildings and the occasional tree.

I look around the future in awe as I sip my milkshake and suddenly, I catch sight of two young boys running around, giggling happily to themselves as they do so.

One of the boys pats the other on the back and then the other turns and chases the boy who tapped him.

“What are those kids playing over there?” I inquire, pointing at the running kids as I sip my strawberry milkshake.

“They’re playing tag.” Chanyeol says with a chuckle.

“Tag?” I inquire, tilting my head.

“Yeah, it’s just a kids’ game where one kid ‘tags’ the other and the kid that is tagged chases the other kid and ‘tags’ them back.” Jongdae explains.

“Ooh…” I breathe. “That sounds really fun! Can we play it too?”

“Uh, you’re a bit too old for that now—” Sehun begins.

“Sehun-ah, she’s never too old for tag!” Chanyeol interrupts, waving a dismissive hand towards Sehun. “And besides, we need to educate Princess in all things future and that includes playing tag!” he chortles then he taps me on the shoulder. “Tag!”

I gasp and watch as Chanyeol runs off and stops near a tree, staring at me determinedly.

I smirk and run after him, milkshake in hand.

When I approach the tree, Chanyeol smirks and runs away from me.

I follow him and he tries to sidestep and distract me however I stand my ground and lunge towards him and as soon as I do that, he runs off again.

Then, whilst panting hard, I chase him around the large, open space, dodging people as I go who give me strange looks. However, I’m having too much fun to even care.

In the distance, I see that Jongdae and Sehun are sitting on a bench nearby. Jongdae is smiling with his kitty-smirk as he watches us whilst Sehun has a frown on his lips, however his eyes never stray away from me.

Eventually, I corner Chanyeol and tap his arm. “Tag!” I yell triumphantly. “Yay!”

Chanyeol doubles up laughing. “I let you have that one, Princess. I was purposely being slow because this is your first-time playing tag.”

“Or maybe, you _are_ actually just slow.” I contend with a smirk, taking a sip of my delectable strawberry milkshake.

Chanyeol stares at me and gives a breathy laugh. “Oh, you little minx…” he says, straightening up and squaring his shoulders. “I won’t be going easy on you now, so prepare to run. Or would you like a thirty second head start?”

“I don’t need one, Chanyeol.” I say with a grin, remembering my time practicing martial arts and running around the perimeter of the palace walls as exercise back in the past. “So, good luck catching me!” I giggle as I shoot off like a madwoman.

I look behind as Chanyeol rushes after me with a smirk.

I smile and turn away, running faster across the space, feeling so energized ever since I set foot in the future.

I have to admit, Chanyeol is very fast and obviously has good stamina.

I’m now starting to get tired as I run away from him, however I persevere, running as fast as my legs will carry me, my milkshake sloshing in its cup.

“Princess!” Chanyeol calls out all of a sudden.

I turn around and my eyes widen when I see Chanyeol collapsed on the ground, gripping his leg with a pained grimace.

I stop and run towards him. “Are you okay?” I ask as I approach and kneel beside him. “Did you hurt your leg?”

Chanyeol simply nods and strokes his leg.

I creep closer then, a grin flashes on Chanyeol’s lips as he pats my arm. “Tag!”

My eyes widen as he gets up and runs away and then I realise what he had just done, and I scowl.

“You toe rag!” I call as I run after him.

Chanyeol cackles as he runs, looking behind at me as he does so.

“I’ll get you!” I call, my heart thrashing against my ribcage and my stomach beginning to swirl, still feeling my recent lunch churning inside.

“I think that’s enough for today guys.” Jongdae says all of a sudden as he approaches us, Sehun following behind.

I stop running and catch my breath, so does Chanyeol.

“We have to get back to work now.” Jongdae continues, looking at a dial strapped to his wrist. “Mr Wu wants to go through some things this afternoon for next week’s product launch.”

“Oh shit, I forgot about that.” Chanyeol says as he joins us, huffing and puffing as he does so.

Sehun looks at me and frowns. “Are you alright, Princess?” he asks.

I look up and meet the eyes of the three men. “Yeah, my tummy just feels a bit funny…” I say, rubbing said tummy.

“Well you shouldn’t’ve been running around on a full stomach.” Sehun tuts, shaking his head.

“Hey!! I was having fun!” I retort, still breathing heavily as I glare at Sehun.

Sehun glares playfully back at me with a small, handsome smile playing on his lips and I can’t help but smile back.

“Anyway, let’s go.” Jongdae says and we all walk off together and down the streets.

As I walk, I sip on my milkshake and think about my new tube of Prussian blue oil paint and how much fun I’m going to have when I get home later and add the darker tints to the sky on my mural.

“I can’t wait to see where you guys work! I bet it’s so riveting!” I say, breaking out of my thoughts and looking at my three friends.

They all smile and chuckle at me.

“Princess, you’ll be seriously bored.” Chanyeol says with a chortle. “Especially by Kris and his long-ass presentations and droning voice.”

Jongdae and Sehun both agree with nods, interjecting with more reasons why their workplace would be a bore for me.

I roll my eyes as we all saunter down the streets together towards the office. I’m walking beside Jongdae, whilst Chanyeol and Sehun with their tall legs are up ahead of us, their hands in their black suit trouser pockets.

The sickness in my tummy is now over and I feel like getting Chanyeol back for deceiving me earlier.

_I’m a competitive person after all and I like to win!_

So, I skip ahead towards Chanyeol and tap his back. “Tag!” I giggle.

“You little shit!” Chanyeol smiles as I run away from him. “I’ll get you Princess!” he exclaims as he runs after me.

I giggle as I run, weaving past people who jump out of my way. My strawberry milkshake slops in its plastic cup as I dash down the pavement, the sugar pulsing through my veins and hyping me up.

“Wait, Princess!” Chanyeol calls after me but I ignore him, thinking that he is trying to distract me like last time, so I continue running.

I turn my head and stick my tongue out at Chanyeol with a giggle.

_You won’t get me, Park! Hah ha!! Who do you think I am, an idiot? No chance!!_

“Look out!” Jongdae shouts, the urgency in his voice and face getting through to me.

So, I turn my head and my eyes widen at where I’m heading.

I see a large group of men a couple of feet away and one of them is right in my line of fire, his bronze hair shimmering in the light of the sun as he talks to the other men by his side.

I have to admit, he’s stunningly handsome, his beauty seems to shine in the sunlight, and I’m blinded.

Before I can react, I crash and fall, dumping my milkshake everywhere and all over a very, very angry yet very handsome man with bronze tresses.

It falls absolutely silent and then I realise that I’m sitting in his lap…covered in strawberry milkshake…

_Oh, this is mortifying…_

“How dare you!” the unknown man hisses, glaring up at me evilly.

“I’m really sorry mister!” I splutter with a furious, tomato red blush as I try to wipe him clean with the end of my shirt, however I just end up pouring more milkshake on him by accident.

“What the fuck are you playing at!! You’re just making it worse, you stupid girl!” the man screeches as milkshake pours on his pristine, white shirt and charcoal grey suit jacket. “Get off me!”

All of a sudden, Sehun grabs my arms and helps me up, strawberry milkshake dripping down my jeans and t-shirt.

“Mr Byun, I apologise, my friend wasn’t looking where she was going—” Sehun begins to say in a ramble as Jongdae and Chanyeol join us both, looking quite ashen and worried.

“That revolting girl of yours needs to be kept on a lead! Now look at my suit! It’s ruined!” ‘Mr Byun’ seethes as he stands up then he looks at the older men surrounding him. “Can someone please get me a tissue?! I’m soaked here!”

In a flash, the men hurriedly give Mr Byun some tissues and he wipes himself down with a scowl.

_Revolting?! He called me revolting?! I was trying to help clean his suit for goodness sake! AND I apologised!_

“Hey—!” I begin, but Sehun puts a hand over my mouth before I can get a word out.

“Are you okay Mr Byun?” one of the men with Mr Byun asks.

“No, I’m _not_ alright!” Mr Byun growls, ripping the tissue from the man’s hand and wiping his clothes. “This is a new suit and it was specially made for me in Italy. It’s worth ₩7,000,000 for goodness sake!” he seethes as he wipes his suit jacket however the fabric just gets pinker and pinker because he’s rubbing it in. “Now I smell of fucking strawberries!”

“Mr Byun, I’m really sorry, shall I pay for a new one—?” Chanyeol begins, getting out his wallet.

Mr Byun puts his hand up and Chanyeol stops. “No, I think this young lady here should pay for it instead.” He says as he turns to me with a scowl. “She was the one who _ruined_ it after all!”

I rip Sehun’s hand away from my mouth. “What!?” I splutter in outrage.

“What’s your name, brat?” Mr Byun asks with a glare.

“Princess.” I scowl, my fists shaking at my sides.

“Princess?” he says with a raised eyebrow and an evil laugh. “What kind of a revolting name is that?!”

“Hey!” I seethe, my fists clenching harder, resisting the urge to punch his stupid, handsome face into a bloody pulp. “What kind of a name is Mr Byun anyway?! So stupid!”

Immediately, it falls deadly silent and everyone is staring at me including Mr Byun who’s acting as if I had said every single rude word to him in existence and insulted his whole entire family.

My three friends look terrified and somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind I know that I _royally_ messed up…

_Oh, why me?!_

“My name is _Byun Baekhyun_ you fool!” the very angry yet handsome man growls with a heinous glare. “Mr Byun is my work title, I’m the CEO of _Byun Enterprises_ for goodness sake!”

“Byun what?” I ask, completely and utterly confused.

“Do you have a job?” ‘Baekhyun’ asks, continuing to furiously pat down his pink-stained white shirt.

“No…” I say.

_In fact, I’ve never ever had a job before…_

Baekhyun tuts and shakes his head. “Useless youths these days.”

“Hey!” I growl, my fists clenching.

Baekhyun takes a step back, looking at me as if I’m a rabid dog about to eat him however a grin steadily makes its way onto his face which makes me falter at the suddenness of it.

“Well I’ll give you a job then.” Baekhyun says as he stares at me whilst rubbing his chin. “Be my new personal assistant and then you can earn some cash to pay for a new suit for me.”

“No way!!” I splutter, staring at this strange, angry man in utter shock. “Who do you think you are?! I’m the Crown—” I say as I storm towards him, but I’m rudely cut off by Sehun wrapping an arm around my waist and putting a hand over my mouth again.

I scream against his hand, frantically trying to burst away however Sehun’s grip is very strong.

“Calm down!” Sehun hisses into my ear but I continue to thrash, wanting nothing more than to give that stupid handsome ‘Baekhyun’ a piece of my mind.

“Mr Byun, Princess is only twenty years old, she hasn’t been trained to do something as demanding as being a personal assistant.” Jongdae speaks up all of a sudden.

Baekhyun narrows his evil eyes on Jongdae. “I’ll teach her, it’s not that difficult you know.”

Then the two of them glare menacingly at each other for a little while.

Finally, I’m able to remove Sehun’s hand from my mouth: “I don’t want to be your personal-whatever-it’s-called, you abhorrent toe-rag!” I shriek, breaking the tense silence as I try to squirm away from Sehun but his hold around my waist is crazy-strong.

“Princess—” Sehun warns in my ear.

Baekhyun is staring darkly at me and he looks as if he wants to snap my neck and dump me in a ditch.

_Curse me and my big mouth._

“So, you’d rather I call the police, would you?” Baekhyun says, reaching in his suit trouser pocket and taking out a smooth, expensive phone. “You did verbally assault me and ruin my suit after all…I can have you down for that…”

“You don’t need to get the police involved with this.” Chanyeol interjects, glaring at Baekhyun. “Princess will do it, she’ll be your personal assistant, okay?”

We all stop and stare at Chanyeol in unsullied shock.

I squirm and struggle against Sehun. “Chanyeol!” I screech, glaring at him.

Baekhyun turns to me. “So…Princess, you’ll be my personal assistant so that you can pay for my new suit? Is that right?” he asks with a stupid, wry smirk that I would love to slap off his perfect face.

They all look at me, and I meet Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun’s eyes and I know that I really, really don’t want to give into this stupid, arrogant, future toe-rag. I thought that I was rid of them when I left Jongin behind in the past for goodness sake!

“Princess, I know that you don’t want to do it but it’s better than going to the police, okay?” Sehun whispers into my ear.

I look away from Sehun and meet Baekhyun’s eyes as he stares down at me as if I’m a puny bug on the end of his shoe.

I also know that I don’t ever want to go to the police, because from what I’ve learnt so far, it isn’t a good thing to go to the police…

It seems as if I have no other option…

“Fine.” I relent with a huff, glaring up at Mr Byun.

“Good.” Baekhyun says with a stupid smirk, putting his phone back into his pocket. “I expect to see you at eight o’clock sharp outside my office tomorrow, Princess.” He says. “And don’t be late otherwise I’ll increase the amount you need to pay back by five percent.”

I growl and try to break away from Sehun’s clutches.

Baekhyun jumps back slightly. “And you need to sort out your temper.” He says. “As your new boss I won’t tolerate angry little girls like you.”

I continue to glare at him, and he glares back.

Then with a delicate swivel of his heel, he walks away from us and into his stupid, shiny company building without a second glance.

The other businessmen follow behind him obediently, all of them casting disapproving eyes at me as they do so.

As soon as he’s gone, I break away from Sehun’s clutches and charge towards the building. “I’ll kill him!” I seethe, my fists bunching up and shaking with fury.

“Princess!” Sehun admonishes, grabbing the back of my soaked red t-shirt and tugging me towards him again. “You really have to calm down!”

“How dare he talk to me like that?!” I splutter.

The future is so full of rude people! (except my friends of course.)

“Princess, in the future, you’re not an actual princess anymore.” Jongdae reminds me softly, stroking my shoulder in comfort. “But I have to agree, the way that he spoke to you wasn’t pleasant at all.”

“Who was that toe-rag anyway?” I ask, still glaring at the space where said-toe-rag disappeared to.

“That’s Byun Baekhyun, our boss.” Sehun explains, still keeping a hold of me, as if afraid that I’ll run inside that building and attack Baekhyun with my fists.

_Actually, that isn’t a bad idea…_

Then I quickly shake myself out of my violent thoughts and look into Sehun’s eyes and tilt my head. “Boss?”

“Yes, he’s the boss of our company, he’s in charge of everything.” Sehun elaborates and Jongdae and Chanyeol nod.

“Do I really have to be his personal-whatsit?” I ask, looking between them. “What even is that anyway?”

“You mean, _personal assistant?”_ Chanyeol says with a chuckle.

I nod.

“A personal assistant is someone who just helps a higher up with stuff.” Chanyeol says. “Like paperwork, arranging meetings, answering phone calls and emails.”

“Princess can’t do this.” Jongdae says with a sigh all of a sudden. “She wouldn’t know what to do. She hasn’t been in the future for long and Baekhyun might notice that something is up if she struggles with emails and other tasks.”

“We’ll just train her up.” Chanyeol says with a smile, patting my head. “I’ll teach her how to send emails and stuff tonight.”

“Emails?” I say with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll explain it all later.” Chanyeol says, waving his hand dismissively.

“Well, Princess, it looks like we’ll need to go clothes shopping for your new job as well…” Sehun says, getting out his wallet and frowning at his dusty credit card.

I groan, not liking shopping at all, especially when it’s to do with clothes.

_Ew…_

“Don’t groan at me, it’s you who’s done this!” Sehun snaps as he closes his wallet and puts it in his back pocket. “Now, you’re covered in strawberry milkshake, so let’s get you cleaned up.” He says, taking my hand in his.

“Wait, you’re taking her?” Chanyeol asks.

“Of course, I am.” Sehun says with a roll of his eyes. “I need to get her some business clothes and drop her home, and plus I don’t think Baekhyun would want her in the office so soon after what had happened.” Then he turns to me. “And I don’t think I can trust you to not pounce on him and rip him to shreds…”

“Hey!” I say, glaring up at Sehun who returns my glare.

“We’ll just tell Mr Wu that you’re sick then.” Chanyeol says then he turns to me. “Bye Princess! Enjoy shopping.” He says with a smirk and I know that he knows how much I abhor the dull act of clothes shopping.

I glare at him and he begins to laugh along with Jongdae.

“Have fun Princess.” Jongdae says with a wink, also waving at me.

I grumble under my breath as Sehun leads me away with my hand in his, holding me away from him so that none of the strawberry milkshake splatters on his pristine, white shirt.

We both walk down the streets in silence and I reluctantly allow Sehun to lead me towards the shopping district, my mind reeling and getting angry at my encounter with the handsome, arrogant future toe-rag, Mr Byun Baekhyun and the fact that I now had to work for him!

_Curse my big mouth and temper!_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww!!! I think my favourite moment from this chapter was when Princess played tag with Chanyeol!!! SQUEAL!!!
> 
> I really hope that you enjoyed the chapter today! Please tell me what you think and have a lovely day!
> 
> Currency exchange rate.  
> GBP=KRW  
> £5,000 = ₩7,331,200  
> I didn’t write the exact figure because I don’t think Baekhyun would remember the exact amount for his suit like that! Lol!!
> 
> I love you all!!! There are more chapters coming soon and thank you so much for your support!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I apologise for the extremely long wait!! I was trying to figure out where I was going to go with this story and now I have finally decided!! So, I really hope that you enjoy the chapter!!  
> Thank you all so much for your kind and lovely support that I really appreciate! I love you all! :) <3333333333

 

 

 

 

“That evil man is your _friend?!”_ I splutter, staring wide-eyed at Sehun in utter shock from where I’m sitting on a squishy bench in a 'department store'.

Sehun looks away from the white shirts and looks at me. “Yes.” He says with a sigh. “Baekhyun has been a family friend of mine ever since I was really young. So, I’ve known him for a very long time. He also went to high school with Jongdae and Chanyeol and they’re very good friends too…”

I continue to stare at Sehun without a word, my mouth hanging open.

Sehun meets my eyes and tuts. “Princess, close your mouth, otherwise a bug will fly in there.”

I clamp my mouth shut and glare. “But how is he your friend!! He’s a meanie unlike you guys!”

“He never used to be mean.” Sehun says quietly as he walks towards me. “Now, try these on.” He says, handing me a white shirt and a black skirt.

I wrinkle my nose and fold my arms. “I don’t want to.”

Sehun breathes out a large sigh. “Come on, Princess. You have no choice really and you did agree to the whole thing. So come on, let’s just do it and get it over with.”

I pout even further however this doesn’t work on Sehun because he just continues to glare at me.

“Fine!!” I huff, standing up and taking the stupid garments out of his hands and storming towards the changing room.

I close the curtain and take off my jeans and t-shirt which are still stained with pink, strawberry milkshake and I put on the ‘business’ clothes.

When I’m finished, I stare at myself in the mirror and blush, the clothes are so form-fitting and unlike anything that I have ever worn before…

“Are you okay?” Sehun calls all of a sudden.

“Yes,” I reply squeakily then I shuffle out.

Sehun is sat on a plush red chair in front of me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe and I blush under his intense gaze.

All of a sudden, he stands and walks towards me, he unbuttons my top two buttons and straightens the collar, his fingertips brushing the skin of my neck.

“Sehun—”

“That’s better.” He says and then he looks at the skirt and frowns. “I don’t like the skirt.” He says, taking another skirt from a squishy bench nearby and handing it to me. “Keep that shirt on and put this skirt on.” He commands.

I frown and stomp towards the changing rooms again and shut the curtain. I take off the old skirt and put on the new one, which is slightly shorter than the other one.

I walk out with a blush and Sehun is there, scanning my outfit again. Then he kneels in front of me. I blush harder as he pulls up my skirt so that the length is shorter.

“That’s too short, Sehun…” I say with a blush as he adjusts the skirt so that the hem is skimming my knees.

Sehun chuckles and I blush at the melodic sound. “Sweetheart, this is barely anything.” He says with a smile up at me, then he pulls the skirt up even more so that it’s now sitting mid-thigh.

“Oh…” I blush, feeling strange with such weird clothes on.

Then, Sehun tucks my white shirt into the waistband of my skirt. “That’s better.” He says then he stands and leads me towards a mirror with a hand on my waist.

I stare at myself, and I look so different.

“You fit these clothes so well…” Sehun murmurs, his eyes scanning me in the mirror.

“Sehun, please may I have a longer skirt?” I ask, looking up at him.

“Why?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I prefer them.” I say, looking away from him. “And this skirt here is very indecent.”

“But this skirt length is normal in the future.” Sehun contends with a small laugh.

“Normal?!” I splutter.

Sehun nods. “Yes.” He says. “But some ladies wear long skirts, but mainly short skirts are in fashion.”

“Can I look at some longer skirts please?” I say, looking up at him imploringly. “I think I’ll feel more comfortable if I’m wearing something longer. I feel too exposed in this…” I say, looking in the mirror and blushing at my exposed calves and mid-thigh.

Sehun stares at me then he sighs. “Fine, let’s take a look.” He says, taking my hand and leading me towards the long skirts.

I pick out a very long black skirt and Sehun shakes his head. “No way.”

“But this one looks the most decent.” I say, looking at the skirt. “May I try it on?”

Sehun reluctantly nods and I shuffle into the changing rooms and put on the long skirt. It’s still a bit too short for me, it’s brushing my ankles, but it’s the most decent skirt I’ve seen here so far.

I walk out of the changing rooms and Sehun is there.

“What do you think?” I ask, walking to the mirror and twirling in it, taking in all the angles of the sub-decent skirt.

“You look like a nun.” Sehun sighs, slapping his forehead.

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” I ask, turning to him.

Sehun just sighs again and I notice that he seems to like doing that a lot…

“Anyway, I quite like this.” I continue, looking back at my reflection in the mirror. “May I get it?”

Sehun turns to me. “Are you sure that you don’t want to look at the shorter skirts?” he asks. “Like, what about one that reaches your knees?”

“No way!!” I gasp with a blush, turning towards him in horror. “Do you want me to be naked tomorrow!?”

Sehun blushes as much as me. “No! I didn’t mean that!!!” he splutters. “Princess, we have different attitudes to decency in the future. Some skirts are not classed as butt-naked here and that includes short skirts.” He says, not even meeting my eyes.

“I don’t care, I just want this one.” I say, still looking at the long, ankle length skirt. “Please, Sehun.”

Sehun sighs (again) and fixes me with dark, annoyed eyes. “Fine, I’ll get it for you.” he huffs.

“Thank you Sehun!” I beam with a wide smile up at him.

Sehun blushes. “Alright, now get changed into the new sweats and t-shirt I got you, then we’ll look at suit jackets and shoes.”

I nod and dart into the changing rooms and put on the cheap sweats and t-shirt that Sehun bought for me to wear because my clothes are soaked in strawberry milkshake.

When I’m ready, we both look at suit jackets and shoes together and I eventually decide on a fitted black suit jacket and some black leather ‘loathers’ that fit well and are comfy. Then I get some black tights and a small black handbag.

I’ve never had a handbag before so and I find myself quite liking how it looks on my arm.

For some reason it makes me feel more grown up. I’ve never felt so grown up like this before in the past, where my father kept a close watch on me at all times. I love my new freedom that the future has offered me.

Eventually, Sehun pays for my new ‘work’ clothes with his card and I feel bad that him and the others are spending so much money on me like this when they haven’t known me for long.

Whilst we’re walking down the busy streets towards the apartment, I look up at Sehun, my hands at my sides whilst his arms are full of plastic bags.

“Sehun?” I say all of a sudden.

“Hmm?” he hums, looking down at me.

“Um…you’ve spent so much on me recently….” I observe, fumbling my hands.

Sehun nods. “Yes, I have, and I’m surprised that my credit card is still beating after these past couple of days.” He says with a chuckle, readjusting his grip on the plastic bags. “However, you can pay me back when you’re earning in your new job.” He says with a small smile down at me.

“I don’t need to pay you back too!” I grumble with a pout, folding my arms. “I already have to pay for a stupid suit for that future bastard.”

Sehun shakes his head. “It’s a joke. You don’t need to pay me back.” He says with a sigh.

I stop pouting and look up at Sehun however he doesn’t look at me, his eyes fixed ahead and somehow, I feel slightly bad. Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun have done so much for me, I needed to do something back.

“I’ll repay you.” I say after a little while.

Sehun pauses and looks down at me. “Seriously, it’s fine princess.” He says. “You need these things anyway and you haven’t been in the future for long—”

“But you guys have done so much for me.” I cut in, staring resolutely up at him.  “So please let me pay you back. It’s the least that I can do.”

Sehun meets my eyes and I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

“Okay then.” He says after a little while, looking away. “Thank you, Princess.”

I smile up at him. “You’re welcome, Sehun.” I say, then we both descend into silence as we walk down the bustling, Seoul streets together towards the apartment.

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Later back at the apartment, we’re all gathered in the living room after having eaten an exquisite chicken stir fry dinner made courtesy of Mr Oh Sehun.

I’m sitting next to Chanyeol who has his laptop on his lap with his ‘emails’ up. Jongdae is on my other side, watching a ‘basketball’ game on the TV whilst Sehun is ironing my new work clothes for tomorrow.

“Now, let’s write a fake email to Mr Byun.” Chanyeol says as he gets up a fresh email, then he carefully places the electronic equipment onto my lap.

“Do we have to do this?” I pout, looking up at Chanyeol imploringly. “I really don’t want to be a personal-whatsit to that arrogant, future toe-rag.”

“It’s good practice, sweetheart.” Jongdae speaks up, looking away from the dazzling TV. “Especially because you haven’t sent an email before, you need all the practice that you can get.”

“Yeah, and Mr Byun might get suspicious if he notices that you can’t do these things.” Sehun pipes up as he straightens out my new white shirt and irons it again. “And you can’t tell him that you’re from the past, you nearly called yourself _the crown princess_ in front of him for goodness sake!”

“But _I am_ the crown princess!” I say with a huff, folding my arms.

“Yeah, in the past you were.” Sehun says whilst rolling his eyes. “But now, you’re just ‘Princess’, okay?”

“Basically, what Sehun is trying to say is, that if you tell Mr Byun that you’re from the past, he would probably think that you’re batshit crazy.” Jongdae says gently.

“But you guys believe me, right?” I ask, looking at my three friends.

“Of course, we believe you.” Jongdae says and Chanyeol and Sehun nod in agreement. “And nothing is ever going to change that, but now that you’ll be staying in the future with us, you’ll have to blend in a bit to fit in.”

I nod at his words. He’s right after all because I don’t know whether I’ll ever be returning to the past again, so I need to blend in whilst I’m here to not rouse suspicion.

“Shall we start writing fake emails now?” Chanyeol prompts, staring down at me.

I turn to him and nod. “Of course, Oppa. Let’s begin.”

Chanyeol blushes pink as Jongdae and Sehun glare at him.

Then Chanyeol clears his throat and leans towards me. “Now, when writing to Baekhyun, you must call him Mr Byun.” He says. “Now write: ‘Dear Mr Byun’.”

I do as he says, typing out:

**Dear Mr Byun.**

“Why can’t I address him as: Dear Arrogant Toe-rag from the future?” I grumble, deleting my original words and writing:

**Dear Arrogant Toe-rag from the future.**

Jongdae and Chanyeol chortle loudly.

“Oh sweetheart, you’ll be fired if you did that!” Jongdae says through bouts of laughter whilst clutching his stomach.

“Fired? I don’t want to be covered in flames!” I splutter as I quickly delete the words and write:

**Dear Mr Byun.**

_“Fired_ means losing your job, not being covered in flames, Princess.” Sehun says with a small chuckle as he folds my white shirt neatly, putting it on the arm of the blue armchair.

I shake my head at these strange futuristic words. “Well, I don’t want to work for that stupid future bastard anyway.” I grumble.

“Seriously, Princess you can’t call him that, he’s your new boss and you’re already in his bad books, so don’t make it worse.” Sehun says sternly as he begins to iron my long black skirt.

I pout and fold my arms. “That’s unfair!”

“Life’s unfair.” Sehun sighs. “But just do this for Mr Byun and soon it’ll be over, okay? And you’ll probably never have to see him again after his suit is paid for.”

“Hope so.” I whisper to myself and I already can’t wait until I’ve paid my debt to that arrogant future bastard so that he can buy his new stinky ‘suit’ from Italy, wherever that is.

Then Chanyeol clears his throat and I jolt out of my thoughts and meet his eyes. “Now, let’s just say you were…I don’t know…writing an email to inform Mr Byun about a business partner who wants a meeting with him.” he says.

I make a face, not understanding a word of what he meant. “And how do I begin to do such a thing?” I ask.

“Okay, so, you’ve written ‘Dear Mr Byun’.” Chanyeol says, leaning towards me and looking at the laptop screen. I nod. “Now write: ‘I have written to inform you that…Mr Choi—”

“Who’s Mr Choi?” I ask, pausing mid-type to look up at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol face palms. “This is all hypothetical, Princess.” He sighs. “It’s a _fake_ email.”

“So, Mr Choi doesn’t exist?” I ask.

“Nope.” Chanyeol says.

“Good.” I whisper, glad that I won’t need to face anymore futuristic bastards like Mr Byun.

“So, let’s continue.” Chanyeol says, his eyes on the screen. “I have written to inform you that Mr Choi has just called and asked whether you were available to have a meeting with him at 11:00AM to discuss business details.’”

I type all that he told me. “How’s this?” I ask, turning the laptop slightly.

Chanyeol nods. “It’s good.” He says. “Now, say: ‘I have looked in your diary and you are available on this date, however, please tell me if you would like me to postpone or cancel it at all and I will inform Mr Choi of these changes’.” He says, watching as I type. “Then finish it with: Kind Regards, Princess.”

I do as he says and turn the eklectronic contraption towards him. “How is it?”

Chanyeol skim reads it. “Yeah, that’s good.” He says with a nod then he explains how I would send an email if it was a real one.

“So, you understand?” Chanyeol asks after his explanation.

“Yes.” I say with a nod, still slightly confused with all this futuristic technology, however I hope that I’ll get used to it soon.

“That’s the spirit! With my expertise you’ll be such a whizz at sending emails that Mr Byun won’t know what hit him!” Chanyeol beams with a wide smile, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.

Sehun gives a derisive chortle and we all turn towards him. “Says you, hyung.” He says, putting my freshly ironed long skirt next to my white shirt. “Sometimes you forget whom you’re emailing mid-sentence, remember when you thought you sent a whole bunch of Rick Roll memes to Jongdae-ah but instead you sent them to the team leader, Kris Wu?”

“Shit! Don’t remind me!” Chanyeol splutters as Jongdae and Sehun laugh loudly.

“What happened?” I ask, looking between the three of them with wide eyes.

“Let’s just say, Chanyeol got an earful that day, Princess.” Jongdae says through loud chortles. “And an internet ban for a whole week for rick rolling Kris.”

 _“Rick rolling?”_ I say with a tilt of my head

“It’s a meme thing.” Sehun explains with a sigh and a wave of his hand.

“Meme?” I say, feeling even more confused with this jargon from the future, however I’m intrigued to find out more in order to fit in.

“I’ll show you Princess.” Chanyeol says sneakily, taking his laptop back from me and typing in the search engine.

I lean towards him as a video of a man with ginger hair pops up.

“Don’t you dare, Chanyeol!” Sehun warns, having guessed what we are about to do.

“Oh, come on, she can’t be in the future and not know the _rick roll_ for goodness sake!” Chanyeol contends with a large grin as he clicks on the video and immediately the room is full of:

 

_~Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down~_

 

“Chanyeol turn that shit off!” Jongdae groans. “I’m trying to watch the game.”

_~Never gonna run around and desert you~_

 

“Please don’t turn it off! I love this beat!” I say and I can’t help but dance in my chair. “It’s so catchy!”

“That’s the spirit, Princess!” Chanyeol says with a laugh as he claps his large hands to the sublime beat. “At least you have a sense of humour, compared to those two boring weirdos.” He beams whilst Jongdae and Sehun roll their eyes and shake their heads.

_~Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye~_

 

“Come on Yeol, please turn it off…” Jongdae whines after a small while.

“Oh, at least let Princess hear it all!” Chanyeol says as we both continue to bop to the beat.

Jongdae looks at me and smiles. “Fine.” He relents with a huff.

“Thank you Jongdae!” I say sweetly, still dancing in my chair.

Jongdae blushes a light pink, then he clears his throat and looks away from me, back at the TV.

_~Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you~_

 

Finally, the song is over and Jongdae and Sehun breathe a huge sigh of relief.

“Can we play it again?” I ask, loving this incredible music from the future. It sounds so mesmerising and makes my body all jumpy and happy!

Chanyeol smirks, his finger hovering over the play button.

“No fucking way!” Sehun says harshly. “I don’t want to get rick-rolled for a second time this evening!”

I pout at Sehun, but he stays resolute and begins to pack away the ironing board.

“We should go to sleep now anyway.” Jongdae says, turning off the TV and turning to me. “You need to get up early tomorrow and be at the office at eight.”

I frown and huff, not looking forward to becoming a ‘personal assistant’ for that future bastard but I know that I don’t have a lot of choice.

_This’s so unfair!!_

So, with a pout, Chanyeol closes his laptop and Sehun puts the iron and the ironing board into a small cupboard in the kitchen and we all go to our sleeping quarters for the night.

Sehun hangs up my new, freshly-ironed work clothes for me in the wardrobe and I say good night to my three new friends.

I wash my face and teeth in the bathroom and then I walk to my sleeping quarters and snuggle beneath the downy covers.

It takes me a while to fall asleep because my mind is racing about tomorrow.

I can’t believe that I had gotten myself into this mess, however I’m determined to show the mean Mr Byun that I don’t mess around and that he made the wrong decision to make me his personal-whatsit.

 

_Just you wait!_

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

“Princess…” a smooth voice whispers close to my ear. “Time to get up.”

I groan and turn in bed. “Go away.” I mumble with a dismissive wave of my hand, still feeling tired.

_I barely slept at all; it can’t be morning yet! Surely not!_

The voice sighs. “Come on, it’s seven fifteen and you need to be at the office by eight on the dot.”

I open my eyes and blush when I catch sight of Jongdae sitting on my bed all dressed in a nicely pressed black suit and a weird ribbon around his neck which I now know is called a ‘tie’.

“Do I have to?” I mumble, burying my face into the fluffy pillow. “I’m tired and I don’t want to work for that stupid, arrogant toe-rag.”

Jongdae chuckles mellifluously and my heart flutters at the beautiful sound. “I know that you don’t want to Princess.” He says, stroking my shoulder over the duvet. “Now, why don’t you take a shower to freshen up? Then get dressed and have breakfast.”

“But…Jongdae…” I whine, turning away from him. “This is so _unfair…”_

Jongdae sighs. “I know sweetheart.” He whispers. “But it needs to be done, so please get up so you can get ready.”

I huff loudly. “Fine!” I grumble.

“Good girl.” Jongdae says with a smile as he stands and straightens out his suit. “I’ll see you in the kitchen when you’re done, okay?”

I nod as he walks out and shuts the door.

As soon as he’s gone, I whip off my duvet and stomp out of my sleeping quarters.

I walk down the hallway and enter the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

I march to the shower and turn the lever to the right, immediately, water rushes out and splatters against the tub, making a loud tumultuous noise.

I pull the large, red polka dot curtain to and take off my fluffy purple pyjamas.

Then I hop into the shower and immerse myself under the stream of hot water.

When my hair is fully wet, I use my new lady shampoo and conditioner which smells of cherry blossoms. I quite like this smell, and it makes my hair so nice and soft, unlike what I used to use in the past which was a soap bar, made from animal fat, fragrant herbs and essential oils.

As soon as I’m all clean, I turn off the shower and stumble out, nearly slipping on the wet tiles.

I catch myself just in time on the rim of the bath and then I grab a towel and dry myself with it. I wrap the towel around my body.

Then I gather my fluffy purple pyjamas and walk out of the bathroom—

“What are you doing here?!” I exclaim, holding my towel tight to my wet body.

Chanyeol jumps with a large, pink blush, quickly averting his eyes from my almost naked body. “I was waiting for the shower, you were taking forever—” he mumbles, looking at the floor.

I blush even harder at the situation, never having been in such close proximity with a man with barely anything on before.

“I wasn’t taking forever!” I splutter then I rush away, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor as I enter my sleeping quarters and slam the door.

I rest against the door, to catch my breath.

My heart is beating so hard in my chest and my cheeks are burning, having not expected Chanyeol to be waiting outside the bathroom like that.

I’m mortified! He nearly saw me naked for goodness sake!

_No!!!_

I try to put this to the back of my mind and calm my heart and burning red blush as I dry my body and hair.

Then I get my new work clothes out of the wardrobe and put them on, tucking the white shirt into my long black skirt like Sehun did for me yesterday and putting on the fitted black suit jacket.

All of a sudden there’s a knock at my door.

I blush hard. “Who is it?” I ask, praying that it isn’t Chanyeol.

“It’s me, Sehun.” A voice calls. “May I come in?”

I breathe a small sigh of relief. “Okay.” I call back.

The door opens and Sehun walks through and closes the door behind him, he has a strange device in his hands.

“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to it as he plugs it into the wall and presses a button.

“It’s a hairdryer.” Sehun explains with a smile and then he places a large, floor length mirror by the wall as well. “Now take a seat on the bed and I’ll dry your hair for you.”

I do as he says and Sehun sits behind me and turns on the machine, immediately it makes a loud, whooshing sound.

“Woo!” I beam with a giggle as hot air bursts out and fluffs my hair all over the place. “This is great!” I giggle.

Sehun chuckles, meeting my eyes in the mirror as he dries my hair with the ‘hairdryer’ and I watch in awe as my hair steadily gets drier and drier and I can’t believe it.

This invention is spectacular!

As Sehun dries my hair, I think back to the past and how I had to wait _ages_ for my hair to dry naturally, yet in the future, with one flick of a button, you can get your hair dry in under ten minutes.

_Impressive._

When my hair is all dry, Sehun turns off the hairdryer and unplugs it. He sweeps his fingers through my long, black tresses. Then he brushes it through with a hairbrush, getting all the tangles out and then he puts my hair up into a high ponytail.

“Here we are. All done.” Sehun announces.

I stare at myself in the mirror and I have to admit, my hair looks better than it did.

But it does nothing to lift my mood at the fact that I will have to work for a stupid, arrogant future toe-rag like Mr Byun.

“I think your hair looks better up…” Sehun says thoughtfully as he continues to stare at my image in the mirror. “It really suits you.”

I blush pink. “Thanks.” I whisper, suddenly becoming shy.

_What is wrong with me?!_

Sehun smiles. “Let’s eat now.” He says, patting my shoulder.

I nod and we both stand from the bed and walk out of my sleeping quarters.

We both enter the kitchen where Jongdae and Chanyeol are sat at the kitchen table in their well-fitted and pristine black suits, their hair is well-styled, and they look very handsome…

_Oh my…_

Sehun and I join them at the kitchen table, and I avoid Chanyeol’s eyes with a warm blush as Sehun serves me some, ‘cornflakes’ with milk.

Chanyeol also avoids my eyes with a blush of his own, busying himself with his phone as he eats his cereal.

Breakfast was quiet and little was said, I didn’t talk much because I’m not a morning person. I’ve never been, and I never will be thank you very much!! And I decided that I really like cornflakes. They are amazing! And so crunchy! Yum!

_Why didn’t we have these in the past!?_

After we’ve finished breakfast, we all get on our shoes and grab our briefcases, or in my case, my small black handbag that Sehun bought for me yesterday.

Then we all walk out of the apartment and through the hallways and down the stairs because the ‘lift’ is still not working.

We emerge in a large carpark and we all decide to take Chanyeol’s red _‘Ford’_ to work which has now apparently been fixed at the garage.

Jongdae and Chanyeol get in the front whilst Sehun and I settle in the backseats and fasten our seatbelts.

Then, Chanyeol drives out of the large carpark and down the wide city streets, passing towering high-rises and people on the way, all of them rushing here there and everywhere.

“Now Princess,” Jongdae begins after a couple of minutes on the road, turning in his seat and catching my eyes. “because you haven’t been in the future for long, we’ve all come up with a little back story for you, just in case Baekhyun asks about your background at all.”

“Oh?” I say as Chanyeol and Sehun nod in agreement.

Jongdae clears his throat and holds my eyes with his. “Well, basically, you are Sehun’s childhood friend who went to study in England when you were very young but now you’ve come back to live here permanently. Your ‘parents’ however still live in England because they work there.” He explains. “How’s that?”

I nod. “That sounds fine.” I say, hoping that I’ll be able to remember it all.

“And remember, don’t ever refer to yourself as the ‘crown princess’ to Mr Byun.” Sehun adds, looking up from his phone. “You almost did that yesterday.”

“I won’t!” I say defiantly with a pout.

“Also, don’t get angry with him and do as your told.” Jongdae pipes up. “You’re doing a job at the end of the day and Mr Byun is your new boss now, so you have to treat him with respect.”

“Pfft.” I say with a huff, folding my arms. “That toe-rag doesn’t even know the meaning of respect! So why should I give him it?!”

Chanyeol sighs. “I know Princess, but sadly this is how it works in the future. Mr Byun is the boss of the company and he’s the person that you should always respect.” He says as he continues to drive, his eyes fixed on the road.

“And if he tries to rile you up, just ignore him.” Sehun says, looking away from his phone to catch my eyes. “He used to tease us a lot when he was younger. He likes winding people up and seeing how far he can push them before they snap.”

I shiver with a nod.

“However, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that Princess.” Chanyeol says. “Mr Byun is quite polite with women, so hopefully he’s in a better mood today than he was yesterday.”

“I doubt that.” I whisper to myself, not imagining that the future bastard from yesterday can ever be nice or polite at all.

Soon Chanyeol parks in another large carpark and we all get out and he locks the car.

We all walk towards the large and imposing _‘Byun Enterprises’_ building and walk through the shimmering automatic doors and into a large, sparkly entrance hall.

There are a couple of employees walking around however it’s mostly quiet and our footsteps echo around the space.

Jongdae gets out his phone and looks at it. “It’s 7:56.” He says, putting the device in his suit trouser pocket and looking at me. “You have to be at Mr Byun’s office soon, Princess.”

I pout, already not looking forward to my new job. “I don’t want to!” I snap.

The guys all sigh and look at each other.

“But if you don’t go that means that Baekhyun has basically won.” Chanyeol interjects, placing a hand in his pocket. “So, don’t give up now.”

I stare into Chanyeol’s eyes and I realise that he’s right.

If I give up now, Baekhyun will love that and think that he’s won. But no, I will make sure to prove that future bastard wrong!

“I’ll do it.” I say determinedly.

The three handsome men all smile at me.

“Good girl.” Chanyeol says softly, patting my shoulder. “Now shall I go up with you to Mr Byun’s office?”

I nod.

“Well, bye Princess.” Jongdae says, bringing me in for a small hug. I blush at the contact and as his hands rub my back. “Be good and just do as Mr Byun says, alright?” he whispers into my ear, his warm breath fanning across my cheek.

I make a face; however, I nod. “Okay.” I grumble.

Then Jongdae releases me from his hug and I turn to Sehun who also pulls me close towards him with an arm around my waist. I blush harder, tentatively wrapping my arms around his waist as well.

Sehun lets me go and looks deep into my eyes. “Remember the back story okay?” he whispers, looking around the sparkly entrance hall. “You’ve come over from the UK and you are now living with us. You’ve been living in London for most of your life and you’re my childhood friend since I was very young.”

I nod, replaying that information in my head and committing it to memory. “Okay.” I say.

They all smile at me and with one last goodbye, I allow Chanyeol to lead me towards the ‘lifts.’

As we walk, everyone stares at us, however we ignore them as we approach the lifts.

Chanyeol presses a button and then the lift doors open.

With his hand on the small of my back, Chanyeol leads me through. Then the doors close and he presses the button for the near top floor.

All of a sudden, I feel a force pushing up and I watch the little dial above the lift doors slowly going up and up.

“You okay?” Chanyeol asks.

I look away from the dial and stare up at him. He’s so tall that I have to crane my neck. I will definitely need to get used to this. “I think so…” I say, nibbling on my lips.

“Don’t be nervous.” He says, taking my hand in his. I blush at the contact. “Just be yourself and don’t show him that you’re worried. Because he’ll feed off that.”

I nod and turn away from him, looking down and focussing on the feel of his warm, strong hand in mine which admittedly I quite like.

In the past, I would never allow anything like this to happen…but for Chanyeol…I’m making an exception. He’s a calming presence to be around and I need calm at the moment.

Then the lift doors open and Chanyeol and I step out. He releases my hand and gestures for me to follow him.

I try and suppress my frown at the loss of his hand in mine as we both walk down winding, white pristine hallways and eventually we emerge in a large, brightly lit space.

There is a large wall of windows overlooking the Seoul skyline and we’re so high up and I can’t help but stare at the incredible view.

There are also a couple of black leather seats dotted around and far away there are some ladies sat at a desk, typing on strange eklectronic contraptions. They all look very smart and beautiful; their hair is styled well and they’re wearing makeup.

“Ah, there you are.” An evil voice announces all of a sudden.

I look away from the ladies at the desk and my eyes find that arrogant, future bastard Mr Byun who’s leaning against a white desk nearby with an evil grin that I will love to slap off his beautiful face.

Mr Byun leans away from the desk and looks down at a dial on his wrist which I now know is called a ‘watch.’ “You’re on time.” He says, somewhat reluctantly.

I can’t help but smirk to myself.

_Hah Ha! You lose stupid future bastard! One point to me!_

Chanyeol and I approach Mr Byun and stand in front of him. He’s dressed in a smooth, navy blue suit that is well-fitted to his strong, slender body and his bronze hair is gleaming in the light filtering through the windows

“Good morning, Mr Byun.” Chanyeol greets with a bow then he straightens up and looks at me, gesturing for me to say something with a wave of his hand.

I look at Mr Byun who raises an eyebrow at me.

I scowl to myself and bow low like Chanyeol did. “Good morning, Mr Byun.” I say monotonously.

Then I straighten and catch the stupid bastard’s gaze. His face is impassive, but I can clearly see the mirth dancing in his eyes. He’s definitely enjoying this!

Mr Byun clears his throat. “Well, Good morning to you too, Mr Park and Miss um…?” he says, trailing off and looking me dead in the eyes

My eyes widen when I realise that I hadn’t thought of a last name for myself and I can feel Chanyeol’s frantic eyes on me.

“Windsor.” Chanyeol says quickly and our eyes dart towards him as he clears his throat. “She used to live in England you see, so she has an English grandfather.” He says, looking at me pointedly.

I nod, even though it sounds very shady. “Yes, my full name is Princess Windsor.” I say, my tongue stumbling over the foreign name that I have never heard before in my whole entire life.

I look up at Mr Byun and hope that he believes it for now.

Mr Byun raises an eyebrow. “You have a very royal name…Princess Windsor…how unusual.” He whispers and I blush at how he says my name like that. “So, you used to live in England then?” he asks, putting a hand into his suit trouser pocket as he stares at me.

Chanyeol nods with a smile and interjects before I can reply. “Yeah, she’s Sehun’s childhood friend you see, and she’s decided to move back to Korea now, she only came here a week ago—”

“Okay, I don’t need her whole fucking life story.” Baekhyun grumbles, putting his hand up and silencing Chanyeol in his place.

Chanyeol stops talking and frowns at Mr Byun who takes no notice of him and I find it hard to believe that these two men have known each other since ‘high school’. They seem so distant and far away from each other.

Then the future bastard turns to me. “So, are you ready to earn some money, Miss Windsor?” he leers, staring down at me.

I jump, my brain stuttering when he called me: ‘Miss Windsor’ and then I remember that it is my new and very suspicious, fake last name.

“Yes, I am.” I say, staring back at him with a slight glare, clenching my fists and feeling determined to earn as much money as possible and get all this over with so that he can buy his new stinky suit.

“Good.” Baekhyun breathes as he continues to stare at me.

I’m not sure what’s swirling in his eyes right now but whatever it is, it makes my heart beat slightly harder in my chest…

Then Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol. “Well, then, now that Princess is safely here, you can leave now, Mr Park.” He says. “I believe you are about five minutes late to your morning briefing.”

Chanyeol blinks and looks down at his watch. Then he turns to me and I look up at him as he pulls me in for a hug. I blush at the sudden movement, having not expected it at all. “Goodbye Princess.” He murmurs, rubbing my back and I blush even more at the physical contact, not used to being touched like this by males until recently. “And be good, okay?”

“Fine.” I grumble with a pout as I hug him back, trying to repress my red blush at his proximity.

“Good.” Chanyeol smiles, releasing me from his hug and patting my shoulder. “I’ll see you at lunch alright?”

“Sure.” I say, trying to calm my blush.

Chanyeol throws one last look at Baekhyun and walks away and enters a lift in the distance.

As I stare after him, one part of me desperately wishes that he hadn’t left just now and that he would come back and take me with him.

“So…”

I turn around and catch the evil bastard’s eyes as he saunters towards me and scans my work attire up and down with a raised eyebrow. I suddenly feel very awkward under his intense stare. “Nice skirt, Miss Windsor. If you’re not careful you might trip on it.” he murmurs with a dry laugh, his eyes gouging my reaction.

“I normally wear skirts like these.” I say with a huff, looking down at said skirt. “But this is actually a bit shorter than I would allow.” I add, frowning at how the hem brushes my ankles.

If I was in the past this would basically be public indecency!

However, I’m internally grateful that I’m not wearing one of those ‘miniskirts’ that Sehun tried to get me into yesterday. I wouldn’t be able to face the future bastard if I was in that tiny little thing!

Baekhyun raises both eyebrows as he stares at me. “You’re a weird one, aren’t you?” he remarks, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“You’re quite weird yourself, Mr Byun.” I point out as I stare up at him.

It’s true after all, most of the people here are strange, so different to what I’m used to in the past.

Mr Byun stares at me in slight amusement I think, but other than that, I can’t tell what he’s thinking. “Now, let’s go into my office, I need to talk to you about your role as my new personal assistant.” He says, walking away from me.

I nod and reluctantly follow him through a large wooden door.

We both enter and I stare at the large, luxurious white room.

Every surface is white, and it shimmers in the natural light streaming through the windows.

There are several white sofas and armchairs and a large chestnut wood desk with a black leather desk chair tucked under it.

There is also a weird eklectronic thing on the desk and there are a couple of verdant plants dotted about which gives the dull and boring space some vigour.

There are some framed pictures of news articles but still it looks bland. Where has all the colour gone?! He could at least get a couple of nice paintings in here or something to brighten the place up…

_Hmmm…_

I’m so busy looking around the room that I don’t even notice that Baekhyun has taken a seat at his desk.

“Hey!” He calls in an annoyed tone.

I jolt in surprise and look away from the window, meeting his dark, glittering eyes. He’s watching me, stroking his chin and drawing my eyes to his full, red bottom lip. “Come sit.” He commands, pointing to the chair in front of the desk.

I bite back a retort and walk towards the desk and sit down in the chair indicated, placing my handbag on the floor by my feet.

When I’m settled, Baekhyun straightens in his seat and regards me. “Now, you’re very lucky that the personal assistant position came open.” he begins, his eyes never straying from me. “Otherwise I would have made you a toilet cleaner instead. So be grateful and do as you’re told, and everything will be alright.” He says with a cold laugh and a dark gleam in his eye.

I clench my fists, trying to ignore his evil jibe. “What happened to your old personal assistant?” I ask bravely.

“I fired her.” Baekhyun answers as he rests his elbows on the desk, his long slender fingers knotting together.

“Why?” I ask with determined eyes and a raised eyebrow.

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “She exposed herself to me on Tuesday, thinking that I had sexual feelings for her.” He explains. “The poor cow was in tears when I rejected and fired her on the spot. Too bad as well, she knows how to make an impressive Excel spreadsheet.”  

I gasp with a blush, so utterly surprised that a woman would do such a thing as that, I’ve never heard of it at all in the past however I don’t ask Mr Byun to elaborate.

Then Baekhyun lets out a sigh, drawing my eyes towards him. “Anyway, is your name actually ‘Princess Windsor’?” he asks all of a sudden, leaning back in his seat and stroking his chin. “It’s quite an unusual name.”

I falter, then I remember that I can’t tell him that I’m from the past and that I am in fact the crown princess. “Yes, it is.” I say, hoping and praying that he believes it and doesn’t ask any awkward questions.

Baekhyun stares at me for a while and after what feels like years, he nods to himself. “So, you used to live in the UK?” he asks with a tilt of his head, his bronze tresses swishing on his head.

I nod, remembering the backstory. “Yes.” I say, my hands sweating in my lap.

“Why were you there?” Baekhyun murmurs, still staring at me.

“Studying.” I say quietly. “Um, and I lived there with my parents, but I wanted to come back, so I’m staying with my childhood friend Sehun and his friends Jongdae and Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun continues to stare at me and I really hope that he believes the backstory and that he doesn’t ask any more difficult questions. “So, you say that you’re a childhood friend of Sehun’s?” he asks after a small while of examining me.

I nod again. “Yes.”

Baekhyun begins to rub his chin again, his eyes narrowing. “Strange because I’ve been friends with Sehun for years and not once has he ever mentioned you. And my parents and his are very close…” he says, his eyes narrowing as he stares at me and I can’t tell what’s going through his mind at all.

_He’s so mysterious…What is he thinking?_

I frown and clench my fists in my lap. “Well, Sehun doesn’t have to tell you his whole life story!” I retort with a glare, getting frustrated.

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “And another thing. Don’t talk back to me. I’m your new boss after all so I demand respect from you.” he says with a sharpness lacing his voice.

“Where I come from, respect is earned, Mr Byun.” I say, folding my arms and glaring at him in challenge.

Mr Byun’s eyes narrow at me and a dark glint passes through them. “Miss Windsor, you know I’m only one call away from the police, don’t you?” he threatens, his hand nearing a handset. “If you would prefer, I could call them now and get you sent down for verbally assaulting me and ruining my suit yesterday.”

“Please don’t do that.” I plead, really not wanting to go to the police.

Baekhyun stares at me for a little while, a small smile spreading across his lips. “Alright then, so like I said, don’t talk back to me.” He says, his dark evil eyes fixed on me.

“Yes.” I grumble out.

“Yes what?” he prompts with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes Mr Byun.” I say, my heart pounding.

“That’s what I thought.” He says, removing his hand from the handset. “Now be a good girl and do as you’re told whilst you’re here okay? and I won’t involve the police.” He says.

I nod.

“Use your voice.” He commands with a slight growl that makes me jump.

“Yes, Mr Byun.” I nearly squeak and I curse my jumpiness and the effect that he’s having on me already.

Mr Byun’s lips quirk up in an almost grin however it’s gone as soon as it arrived. “Good.” He sighs, picking up a piece of paper and sliding it towards me. “Now, here is a list of requirements that I expect you to fulfil whilst you are here earning money for my new suit. Would you care to read them for me?”

I sigh and look down at the sheet and read:

 

 

 

** Requirements of A Personal Assistant: **

  1. **You must arrive at 7.50AM sharp every morning and make my coffee for me which I expect to be hot on my desk when I come in at 8.00AM. I require you to ask whether I would like coffee during the day, usually on a two-hourly basis.**
  2. **No excuses** **for being late.**
  3. **You must dress smartly for work and have good hygiene. Black suit jacket, a white shirt and a black skirt at a suitable length is required.**
  4. **Be polite to business partners and colleagues and always offer drinks when they visit the building to see me.**
  5. **If you need to enter my office for any reason, please knock twice before entering.**
  6. **Every morning, you must give me a brief of the day when I come in to work, explaining what needs to be done and whether I have meetings or commitments that day.**
  7. **Answer calls and emails for me.**
  8. **Answer all phone calls with: “Good Morning/Afternoon, _Byun Enterprises,_ Princess speaking how may I help you?”**
  9. **Accompany me to business meetings and make notes as a record of what was said or done at the meeting. Only talk when you’re supposed to.**
  10. **Your lunchbreaks are an hour long and I decide when you can have them.**
  11. **You have access to my private kitchen.**
  12. **You are required to organise meetings with my business partners or clients on my behalf.**
  13. **Remind me of important tasks and deadlines.**
  14. **Type up reports and business notes.**
  15. **When going on business trips, it is your responsibility to book and arrange travel and accommodation for us both.**
  16. **Your work day ends at 18:00PM however you may have to do overtime if I require you to do so.**



 

 

 

“So? Any questions?” Baekhyun inquires after a small while of silence.

I look up from the sheet of paper and shake my head, but really, I’m so confused and I know how suspicious it will be if I ask him too many questions. So, I stay silent.

Baekhyun nods. “Well, good.” He says, sweeping a slender hand through his bronze hair. “Now, normally you would come in at 7:50 to make my coffee, but as you’re new I’ve made an exception for you but this doesn’t mean that I’m going easy on you, you did embarrass me and ruin my suit after all—”

Anger flares throughout my system. “Hey!! It was an accident—”

“Don’t interrupt me!” Baekhyun cuts in with a glare. “So, is that understood?”

I continue to glare at him.

“Don’t glare at me brat and answer my fucking question.” He seethes.

“Yes.” I grumble, my fists shaking against my thighs.

“Yes what?” he prompts.

“Yes Mr Byun.” I say, fire burning in my chest.

Baekhyun nods but still he glares at me. “Now, I’ll give you a little tour of your new workspace.” He says, standing from his desk chair and walking languidly towards the wooden door.

I turn in my seat and watch him; his movements remind me of a confident tiger in the wild.

“Come on, brat, we don’t have all day.” He grumbles when I hadn’t stood from my seat.

I jolt out of my thoughts with a blush and stand up, walking towards him.

Baekhyun stares at me for a little while then he looks away and opens the door, walking out of the office and into the brightly lit space.

I follow behind him and close the door after myself.

Baekhyun points to a small desk nearby with a strange eklectronic contraption on top of it. “There’s your desk, where you’ll be based for most of the day. You also have a computer which I’ll help you set up later.” He explains.

I nod without a word.

“Follow me.” He says with a wave of his hand I follow him as he walks across the space towards the beautiful secretaries who all look up and blush, whispering behind their hands.

“These are the secretaries.” Baekhyun says in a bored tone as he approaches. “They accommodate guests to the building.”

I look at the secretaries and smile however they don’t pay attention to me because they’re so busy staring at Mr Byun.

_I mean, seriously?! What do they see in that future bastard? He’s terrible and not to mention evil._

“Ladies, this is Princess Windsor.” Baekhyun says, addressing the secretaries. “My new personal assistant.”

It’s as if a switch has been flicked and the secretaries all stop fluttering their eyelashes at Mr Byun and stare wide-eyed at me.

“Well, introduce yourself.” Baekhyun prompts with a tilt of his head towards me.

I shoot a glare at him and he returns it. Then I look at the secretaries. “Hello, my name is Princess Windsor. Nice to meet you.” I say with a bow.

Then the secretaries introduce themselves whilst glaring at me.

_How rude!_

I glare right back at them.

I swear my three friends are the only nice people in the future so far. Everyone else is appalling!

“Now, I’ll take you to the kitchen.” Baekhyun says. “Come on.”

I jump out of my angry thoughts and follow him.

We both enter a small room with a refrigerator, cabinets, shelves and a stove. Every surface is gleaming and like in his office, there’s a large view of the Seoul skyline.

Baekhyun walks further into the room and opens one of the overhead cabinet doors.

“Come here.” He commands with a curl of his long, slender finger.

I clench my fists and resist the urge to shoot a retort his way. I walk towards him and look in the cabinet.

“Here’s where the coffee is kept.” He says, pointing to a small bag then he closes the cabinet and opens another one next to it which is full of gleaming white mugs. “And here’s where the coffee mugs are kept.”

I nod and he closes the cabinet door and walks over to a small eklectronic contraption. “Here’s the coffee machine.” He says in a bored manner. “That’s all there is to say really. It’s pretty self-explanatory.”

I nod, looking at the strange machine and feeling even more confused.

“Do you know how to use a coffee machine?” he asks, his dark eyes boring evilly into mine.

My brain stutters and then I nod dumbly. “Yes…” I say.

_In fact, I’ve never heard of a coffee machine before…OR coffee!_

Baekhyun stares at me for a little while then he nods. “Alright then.” He says, sweeping a hand along the smooth white worktop. “Of course, this kitchen is available for your use as well, however when you use cutlery and plates, wash them up afterwards, okay?”

“Yes Mr Byun.” I say.

“Good.” He says, straightening his suit. “Now I’ll show you your desk.”

I nod and he walks out of the gleaming white kitchen with his hands in the pockets of his pristine, navy-blue suit trousers.

I follow him and we both walk across the large, brightly lit space past the secretaries who are glaring at me.

I ignore them however I can’t help but feel annoyed.

_What was their problem!?_

Then Baekhyun and I reach my desk.

He turns with a delicate swivel of his heel and meets my eyes. “So, like I said, this’s where you’ll be based for the majority of the day.” He says, patting the top of the leather desk chair.

I nod, looking at the simple, white desk where a ‘computer’ is sat. There are some papers, a pot of pens, a small lamp, a handset and more office supplies that I only know vaguely what they are and what they do.

“Sit down, Princess.” Baekhyun commands all of a sudden, ripping me from my thoughts.

I look at him as he pats the seat as if I’m a dog at his every beck and call. I glare subtly at him and sit down in the chair.

“Good girl.” He says then he leans over me and turns on the computer. “Okay, so your password is: ‘pink-milkshake’. You got that?” he says, turning his head and meeting my eyes.

I scowl, knowing that he’s winding me up. However, I don’t say anything as I type it into the computer and then it loads and a smart, grey: _‘Byun Enterprises’_ screensaver fills the screen.

Then Baekhyun sets up an email address for me and shows me where all the emails are kept and other silly documents and ‘programs’ that I don’t even know the name of.

“So, do you understand?” he asks after his lengthy and boring explanation that I couldn’t be bothered to listen to.

I nod. “Yes, Mr Byun.” I say anyway, not wanting to ask him any questions and wishing that he would just leave me alone already.

“Good.” He says. “I need to type up some papers, so whilst I’m doing that you have a couple of emails to respond to.” He says, clicking on the mouse and opening one of the emails.

“Okay.” I say.

“I suggest you write back to Mr Kim first. Tell him that I can’t make it to the meeting on Thursday next week.” He says. “I can’t stand that guy.”

I nod.

“Alright.” Baekhyun says as he straightens up and walks away, gripping the door handle of his office door. “So, I expect you to work hard Miss Windsor, and I’ll know if you are or not because I’ll be keeping a watch on you.” he says, pointing to the window behind me where I can see into his office.

_Pervert._

I catch his very evil glare and I jump. “Yes, Mr Byun.” I grumble.

Baekhyun nods and turns away from me, entering his office with a slam of the door.

I turn my head and look through the window as he saunters towards his desk and sits down, beginning to click on his computer. Then he turns and meets my eyes with a glare, twirling his finger and indicating for me to turn around.

I glare at him and turn around, facing the computer screen again and having no clue what to do at all.

I look at the email from Mr Kim and read it, but it all sounds like gibberish to me, I don’t have the faintest of ideas of how to answer it.

Even though I wrote a fake email with Chanyeol yesterday evening, I’m still confused. And this email system looks so different from Chanyeol’s email system on his laptop. The things are all in different places…

It’s been twenty minutes now according to the clock at the corner of the computer screen and I’m still stuck.

Then I have an idea, so I click out of Mr Kim’s email and search: ‘Park Chanyeol’ in the search bar and immediately his email comes up.

So, I begin to write an email to him:

**To: Park Chanyeol**

**From: Princess Windsor**

**Time: 8:57AM**

**Subject: Help me!!! I’m stuck!!!**

**Dear Chanyeol,**

**I’m really, really stuck, I have this strange email from this strange man called Mr Kim who wants to speak to the arrogant toe rag, but I don’t know how to word it and the bastard said that he doesn’t want to see him next Thursday. Please help me!**

**Kind Regards,**

**Princess Windsor.**

**Personal assistant at _Byun Enterprises co., Ltd._**

 

 

Then I click ‘send’ and watch as it goes and then a small icon flashes saying: ‘Sent.’

I lean back in my chair and wait for a reply, my eyes continually darting to the clock at the bottom of the screen.

8:58AM: Nothing.

8:59AM: Still nothing.

8:59AM: COME ON CHANYEOL!? Why aren’t you replying?!

9:01AM: He’s not dead, is he?!

 

Suddenly a message flashes on the screen:

 

 

**‘Message from Park Chanyeol’**

 

 

I smile and click on it quickly:

 

**To: Princess Windsor**

**From: Park Chanyeol**

**Time: 9:01AM**

**Subject: RE: Help me!!! I’m stuck!!!**

 

**Princess don’t call Mr Byun that. He has got access to every employees’ emails after all.**

**Now as for the email, just remember what I told you last night, address Mr Kim as: ‘Dear Mr Kim’ and then say: ‘With deepest apologies, Mr Byun is unable to meet with you on Thursday, however, please get in touch soon so that you can arrange another meeting with him more convenient for you both. Kind regards, Princess Windsor.’**

**Just write that and everything will be fine, okay? I’ll see you later and be good.**

**Kind Regards,**

**Park Chanyeol.**

**Brand Marketing Representative at _Byun Enterprises_ _co., Ltd._**

 

 

I breathe a small sigh of relief that Chanyeol is supposedly alive and beating then I open Mr Kim’s email again and type what Chanyeol wrote for me to write and when I’m finished, I send it with a grin, feeling satisfied.

Then I open a new email.

**To: Park Chanyeol**

**From: Princess Windsor**

**Time: 9:18AM**

**Subject: RE: Help me!!! I’m stuck!!!**

**Thank you so much, oppa! :)**

**I’ll see you later at lunch!**

**Kind Regards,**

**Princess Windsor.**

**Personal Assistant at _Byun Enterprises_ _co., Ltd._**

 

 

 

Then I send the email and lean back in my chair just as the future bastard’s office door opens.

I turn around as Baekhyun leans out and meets my eyes. “Miss Windsor, have you replied to those emails yet?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes.” I lie.

I still hadn’t replied to the other couple of emails, but they can wait.

Baekhyun narrows his eyes and then he nods. “Okay then, well could you make me a coffee? Strong, no milk or sugar.” He commands.

I nod.

“And make it quick, I have to go to a meeting in half an hour.” He adds, looking down at his fancy watch.

“Yes, Mr Byun.” I say with a glare.

_Why can’t he make his stupid coffee himself?!_

Baekhyun nods and retreats into his office with a slam of the door.

So, I stand from my desk chair and smooth out my long black skirt.

I cast a look behind me through the window and Baekhyun is sat at his desk again, flicking through papers.

I clench my fists as I turn away and stomp towards the kitchen, not used to being ordered around like this, considering the fact that I was the _Crown Princess_ of Korea in the past, everyone waited on _me,_ not the other way around!

I enter the kitchen and look at the strange contraption that Baekhyun said is the ‘coffee machine’ and I have no idea whatsoever how to work it.

Or what it actually _did…_

A small part of me wishes that I had asked Mr Byun how it works, however I quickly push this thought out of my mind. I would never bow down to that abhorrent toe rag!

So, I open the overhead cabinet and take out a mug and the bag of coffee.

I put the mug on the counter and look at the packet of ‘ground coffee’, turning it in my hands then I look at the coffee machine and begin to prod, twist, turn and pull at it.

_How do I work this thing?? It looks so alien…_

I look at the machine and I try to work out how exactly the coffee goes in, but I have no clue.

_Where does it go??_

Then I remove a cap on top of it and look inside where some wires are sat inside…

_Hmm…this could hold the coffee I suppose…it looks deep enough…_

So, I open the ground coffee and shake it in, some of it spills over the sides of the coffee machine and all over the counter, splattering on my long skirt and white shirt.

Then I close the cap which is stuffed full of coffee and I spot a button that says: ‘On’.

_Ooh!_

I press the button and all of a sudden, the machine shudders and cranks loudly, almost bouncing on the counter and I know that I must have made a mistake.

_It shouldn’t be doing that! Right?!_

“No!” I wail as I grab onto the machine, trying to calm it down and find the ‘off’ button but in my panic, I can’t find it at all.

“Miss Windsor?! What are you doing?!” a loud voice exclaims from the doorway all of a sudden.

I turn towards it, seeing Mr Byun stood there with a look of horror on his features.

I never thought that I would be so happy to see him at all.

“Mr Byun, I don’t know what’s happening, this stupid machine won’t work, it—”

But I don’t have a chance to finish my sentence because in the next moment, the coffee machine explodes and shudders, spurting ground coffee absolutely everywhere, on the walls, the ceiling, the floors and the counter.

“Get out of the way!” Baekhyun growls, pushing me away.

My back hits the kitchen counter hard as he walks into the room and unplugs the machine and immediately it goes dead.

The kitchen is blanketed in silence.

I’m breathing heavily against the counter, covered in ground coffee.

“Are you mad?” Baekhyun seethes as he turns to me with a very evil glare. “You put the coffee in the electric output!!”

“I’m not mad!!” I retort with a growl, clenching my fists.

“You’re lucky that you were too stupid to put water in there, otherwise you would have died you stupid girl!” he continues with a glare. “And now we need to get a new one…” he sighs, looking at the machine. “Maybe you can work towards that as well as my new suit? You seem to ruin everything that you touch.”

Anger wells in my chest like fire. “Well, I wouldn’t have broken it if you had told me how it works!!” I seethe, stomping towards him.

“But you said that you knew how it works when I asked you earlier! So, I didn’t think much of it!” Baekhyun counters.

“Well I didn’t know how it works!” I almost scream. “So, don’t blame me!! I’ve never seen one of these things before!” I blurt out.

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “What do you mean you’ve never seen a coffee machine before, Miss Windsor?” he inquires with a tilt of his head, his bronze tresses catching the light.

_Oh no…me and my big mouth._

“Nothing.” I whisper, looking away and remembering what the guys said this morning about keeping the fact that I am…or rather _was_ the Crown Princess of Korea a secret…

Baekhyun continues to stare at me and then he sighs. “Well, clean this up, the cleaning supplies, are in that cupboard and don’t touch the machine. I’ll just get some coffee downstairs.” He says, dusting down his navy-blue suit.

“Why do I have to clean up?!” I splutter in horror, having never had to clean at all in my whole entire life.

“Because I told you to.” He says sternly with an evil glare. “Now, get on with it, you made this mess, so you’ll clean it up, brat.” He growls.

I glare hard at him as he walks out of the kitchen and slams the door, the sound shaking through me.

As soon as he’s gone, I scream into my hands and resist the urge to punch and kick something in utter frustration.

I haven’t been here long, but already I’m hating this job!

Then, I look around the messy, coffee covered kitchen and with a sigh, I take off my black suit jacket and get the cleaning supplies from the cupboard under the sink as he had indicated.

I look through them all and use a dustpan and brush to sweep up the ground coffee, throwing it in the bin.

When the floor was free from coffee, I roll the sleeves of my white shirt up to my elbows and I get a mop and bucket, squirting some lavender scented floor cleaner in it with some warm water as instructed on the bottle and I sweep the floor clean.

After a long while, there’s a knock at the door.

I stop mopping and look towards it.

“You nearly done?” Baekhyun asks, leaning against the doorframe with a steaming paper cup in his hand.

I straighten and sweep a lock of my hair out of my face. “Yes.” I say.

“Good.” Baekhyun says. “I’ve decided that you’re also going to pay towards a new coffee machine for the kitchen as well as my new suit.” He announces. “So, I’m going to order a new one and however much it is…you’ll have to pay me it back.”

I glare. “No! No, you can’t do that!” I growl, dropping the mop and allowing it to clatter to the floor. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m the _CEO_ of this company, Miss Windsor.” Baekhyun says with a dry laugh. “I can do whatever the fuck I want and that includes making you work towards a new coffee machine as well as my new bespoke suit.”

“But, that’s unfair!” I contend, crossing my arms.

“I could have asked you to do way worse things you know…” Baekhyun says with a dark glint in his eye. “What I’m asking of you now is just the tip of the iceberg.”

I blush as I stare into his gaze and there is something swirling within his eyes that makes my belly clench and tingle.

I swear I’ve never felt _that_ before…

“You did break the machine after all with your stupidity.” Baekhyun continues, taking a sip of his coffee. “So, it’s only fair that you work towards a new one.”

I gasp and stomp towards him. “But if you had told me how it worked, I wouldn’t have broken—”

“We’re not getting into this now.” Baekhyun says, raising a hand and cutting me off. “So, finish cleaning your mess and get back to your desk, I’ve got some sheets for you to work through.”

I glare at him, clenching my fists and wishing that I could just punch his stupid handsome face to a bloody pulp, but I know that my three friends won’t like it, so I don’t do anything. I’m already in enough trouble as it is.

“So, is that clear, Miss Windsor?” he prompts.

I jump out of my violent thoughts. “Yes, Mr Byun.” I say.

Baekhyun takes a sip of his coffee and nods, then he leans away from the door and walks off.

I glare after him and mutter a few choice words under my breath.

“Stupid bastard.” I whisper as I bend down and pick up the mop, continuing to clean the kitchen floor with the nice-smelling lavender floor cleaner.

 

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

After I had finished cleaning the kitchen, the stupid future bastard made me go through lots of paperwork and put numbers in a ‘spreadsheet’ on the computer.

I didn’t understand what he was asking at all and he even gave me a little tutorial of how to work the programme, but even then, I just couldn’t work it.

It’s too confusing, and I’m so hungry!

_I wonder when lunch is??_

I look at the small clock at the corner of the computer screen and it is already half noon…

I look behind me and through the window into Mr Byun’s office and he’s leaning against his desk and talking on the phone.

I sigh and turn around, looking at the stacks of paper on my desk and at my computer screen with the half-finished spreadsheet on it.

I try and put in some numbers and then I stop, flopping in my chair and giving up.

This is so _boring!!!_

Suddenly, the office door opens, and I jump with a squeak and turn around.

“Miss Windsor, I’m just heading out to lunch.” Baekhyun says as he slips on his navy-blue suit jacket. “I won’t be too long.” He adds as he walks away from me.

“Wait, when’s my lunch?” I call after him.

Baekhyun stops and turns around, glaring at me as if I had just called him a very, _very_ rude word.

“Are you _actually_ asking me when your lunch is, brat?” he asks incredulously.

I nod. “Yes I am.” I say. “I’m so hungry…”

Mr Byun continues to stare. “Well tough.” He smirks. “You’ll have your lunch when I get back.”

“When will that be?” I ask, my empty tummy making itself known.

Baekhyun glares and looks down at his fancy watch. “One forty-five.” He says. “So, an hour and fifteen.”

I pout, my poor tummy growling at me in protest. “But I can’t wait that long—”

“I don’t give a fuck.” Mr Byun says, cutting me off as he walks towards me and bends down, looking at my unfinished spreadsheet. “You still need to finish this.” He says. “I’ve been watching you from my office and you’ve barely done anything since I gave you that task two and a half hours ago.”

“But it’s so boring—” I begin to say.

“Oh, _boring,_ is it?” Baekhyun whispers, his eyes looking into mine and I stop talking, staring back at him. “But that’s how you make a living, Princess. This is how I want you to pay for my new suit and for a new coffee machine for me.”

I stare at him, not knowing what to say because he seems to have this strange, dark aura surrounding him at the moment that I can’t discern, and it’s causing my heart to pound slightly harder in my chest.

Baekhyun clears his throat and I meet his eyes again, shaking myself out of my thoughts. “So, when I get back, I want this spreadsheet done and to my standards and if it is…I’ll let you have lunch, is that understood?”

I glare at him, clenching my fists against my thighs. “Yes, Mr Byun.”

Baekhyun continues to stare into my eyes. “Good girl.” He whispers then he straightens up and brushes down his suit. “Now, I’m off and if there are any calls asking for me, make a note of them and I’ll call them back when I can, okay?”

I nod without a word.

He gives me a small glare, then he sighs and walks away from me, his footsteps echoing throughout the large white space as he enters a lift and disappears.

When he’s gone, I look back at my computer screen and begin to panic, I have no idea whatsoever what to do!! And I really want to have lunch!! I’m SO starving!!

Then I suddenly have a thought.

_No._

No, I’m not going to let this bastard control me!! I should be able to decide when I have lunch! Not him!

So, I stand from my seat and pick up my small, black handbag.

I loop it over my shoulder and resolutely walk through the space and past the secretaries who all stare at me, however I ignore them.

I reach the lifts and as I’m about to enter, one of the lifts open and Sehun walks out.

“Sehun!” I say in surprise, having not expected to see him so suddenly.

Sehun turns to me and smiles, running a hand through his well-styled auburn locks. “Hey, Princess.” He greets. “I was just going to get you for lunch, are you hungry?” He asks.

I smile. “I’m so hungry!” I say, patting my empty tummy.

Sehun smiles at me and laughs. “Has Mr Byun said that you can go?”

I freeze and then I nod. “Yes, he has…” I lie.

Sehun looks at me for a while and then he nods. “Okay then.” he says with a shrug. “Let’s go, we’re all eating in the cafeteria today.”

I nod and we both enter the lift together and Sehun presses a button and the doors close.

Strangely, I feel really naughty and adrenaline is coursing through my veins at the fact that I’m going against Mr Byun, however I really don’t care. I’m free to do what I want and I’m well within my right to go and have lunch with my friends.

I have been working so hard on that silly spreadsheet for goodness sake, my brain needs a rest too!!

Then the lift doors open and Sehun and I walk out.

I allow Sehun to lead me through many hallways past other workers who stare at me weirdly and I notice how most of the female workers are wearing much shorter skirts and dresses than I, showing off their legs and thighs. I blush, averting my eyes and focussing on my feet.

Soon, Sehun and I enter the cafeteria which is bustling with people and the whole place smells amazing and my mouth waters and my empty tummy growls.

Sehun and I join a queue and pick up a tray each, we both talk as we wait in line and then when we arrive, I gasp at all the beautiful foods on show.

I never knew that food could look so beautiful before I entered the future!

Sehun chuckles beside me. “You’re so expressive.” He whispers.

I blush and look up at him and he simply smiles.

Sehun looks away from me and towards the dinner lady. “May I have a beef pie?” he asks.

The lady nods and takes his tray from him, putting some delectable looking pie onto his tray.

“Can I have the beef pie as well?” I ask.

The dinner lady takes my tray from me and gives me the same as Sehun.

Then the dinner ladies give us our trays back and we each pick accompaniments to our beef pies.

I pick some broccoli, carrots, peas and sweetcorn and some ‘gravy’ which smells so exquisite.

When we’ve finished picking our sides, Sehun and I walk with our trays. (Apparently lunches in the cafeteria are free so we didn’t pay.)

Sehun leads me through many tables full of employees all dressed smartly. Then I see a large table in the distance where Chanyeol and Jongdae are sitting at, along with four other men whom I don’t recognise. However, they all look very comfortable with each other because they’re laughing so loudly and having fun.

Sehun and I approach their table and immediately the six of them stop laughing and look at us.

“Princess, you’re finally here!” Chanyeol says happily with his wide smile.

I blush and return his smile, my heart pounding slightly harder in my chest. “Hello.” I greet.

Jongdae and Sehun glare at Chanyeol who ignores them, continuing to eat his lunch.

Then, Sehun guides me into a seat between him and an unfamiliar man who turns towards me.

“So, you’re the famous, Princess then?”  he muses, with a friendly smile. He has gentle, deer-like features…

I nod. “Yes, I’m Princess Windsor, it’s lovely to meet you.” I say with a smile, inclining my head towards the four unfamiliar men.

“Princess Windsor?” Jongdae mumbles with a frown and Sehun copies him, both of them looking confused.

Chanyeol’s eyes widen in realisation and he leans forward and whispers something in Jongdae’s ear.

Jongdae nods then he leans towards Sehun and relays what Chanyeol had told him.

“Princess _Windsor?”_ Another man says with a gentle voice, drawing everyone’s attentions towards him. “How royal…”

“Well, she did live in the _UK,_ hyung.” Another man said with tired eyes and a laugh, eating his food.

“Y—You all know about me?” I ask with a blush.

The four unfamiliar men smile and nod.

“Of course, we do.” Another man with cat-like eyes and caramel tresses says. “These three wouldn’t stop talking about you all throughout this morning and lunch.” He adds, gesturing to Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun with his fork.

I blush harder and look at my three friends who are also blushing a stunning pink.

“Minseok hyung…” Jongdae grumbles, hitting his friend’s shoulder.

‘Minseok’ simply smiles and laughs, eating his food and shooting Jongdae a knowing look.

“Anyway, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Windsor.” The man with the gentle voice says, looking at me. “I’m Kim Junmyeon.” He says, presenting his hand towards me.

I frown and look at Sehun who gestures for me to take Junmyeon’s hand. I do so with a smile and Junmyeon shakes my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” I say.

Junmyeon smiles and releases my hand. “Likewise.”

“My name’s Luhan, it’s nice to meet you Princess Windsor.” The deer-like man from beside me says and I turn towards him and shake his offered hand. 

I let go and then shake hands with Minseok, who introduces himself to me.

The man with the tired eyes puts down his fork and wipes his mouth with a napkin. “I’m Zhang Yixing, my friends call me ‘Lay’ so you can call me that if you want.” He says, presenting a hand towards me. “I work in product development along with Luhan hyung.” He says, looking at Luhan who nods in confirmation.

I smile, not knowing what that is at all as I accept his hand and shake. “Nice to meet you too.” I say.

Yixing smiles and releases my hand, returning to his lunch and we all eat for a bit.

I pick up my cutlery and tuck into my beef pie and as expected it’s absolutely delicious and I internally praise the future for making such delicious food in my head.

As I eat, my friends and the others all talk amongst each other. They all look very close. I can tell that they must have been friends for a very long time.

“So Princess, you’re the CEO’s new personal assistant, aren’t you?” Minseok asks all of a sudden, looking at me.

The rest of the guys stop talking and turn to me.

I swallow my delicious mouthful and nod. “Yes, I am.” I grumble.

“How are you finding it?” Luhan asks with a disarming smile.

I make a face and they all laugh.

“From the looks of it…not well.” Yixing says with a chuckle.

“You’re right Mr Zhang.” I say, eating more of my pie. “It’s been a total disaster this morning.”

The four men all stop and stare at me and my friends are also staring at me.

I swallow my mouthful and look at them all with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“You’re so formal.” Yixing says quietly after a small while. “You can just call me ‘Yixing’ or ‘Lay’ you know…”

I blush and look at my three friends who grimace.

“Oh…um…” I stutter awkwardly, putting down my fork and picking up my glass of water, taking a sip. “Sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for.” Sehun says, patting my knee. I blush at the unexpected contact, not used to being touched there however I don’t object to it. Then he turns to the four guys. “Princess went to a very strict boarding school in London, so she’s very used to addressing people formally.” He lies without a fumble.

My eyes widen and I look up at Sehun then I look away and nod at Minseok, Luhan, Junmyeon and Yixing.

“Yeah.” I say awkwardly.

“So, anyway, what happened with Mr Byun this morning, Princess?” Jongdae asks, changing the subject and I’m internally glad for the distraction.

The guys all look at me and I pick up my knife and fork again. “Well…” I begin, cutting a chunk of my pie.

So, I tell the guys all that had happened this morning with Mr Byun, how he gave me a tour of the office, including the kitchen and how he asked me to make him a coffee and how I broke his coffee machine.

“Princess!” Junmyeon gasps, interrupting my explanation. “You put _ground coffee_ in the electric output?”

Minseok, Luhan and Yixing all stare wide-eyed at me and I suddenly feel very embarrassed.

I nod. “Yeah…” I say. “Well, it was stupid Mr Byun’s fault, I mean I’ve never even heard of a—”

Sehun clamps a hand over my mouth and gives me a stern look. “Princess, Mr Byun is your boss, you can’t call him stupid.” He says and I can tell that he also wanted to tell me off for nearly revealing that I had never heard of a coffee machine before.

_I need to be more careful!_

I rip Sehun’s hand off my mouth. “But he is though!” I contend with a huff. “That bastard is making me pay towards a new coffee machine _and_ his new suit!! It’s not fair, it’s basically slavery!”

Minseok, Luhan and Yixing all begin laughing.

“What’s so funny?” I ask with a frown, folding my arms over my chest.

Yixing looks at me through wracks of mirth. “You’re such a hoot, aren’t you!” he says. “The guys all told us about how you spilt strawberry milkshake all over Mr Byun yesterday!” he chortles as Minseok, Luhan and Junmyeon nod and laugh however my friends don’t.

My frown deepens at Yixing’s words. “Hoot…?” I whisper, my brain not registering the unfamiliar phrase and wondering whether he’s saying that I’m like an owl.

_Hmm…_

“So, he’s making you pay towards a coffee machine as well?” Chanyeol cuts in, eating a mouthful of pie and staring at me.

I blink and nod. “Yeah, it’s so unfair!” I grumble, picking up my knife and fork again and eating some broccoli. “He told me that he’s ordering a new one and however much it is I have to pay it back to him by working as his personal-whatsit…”

“You mean, ‘personal assistant’?” Luhan corrects with a smile and a furrow of his brow.

My eyes widen, meeting my friends’ worried gazes. “Yeah, that.” I say with a nod, continuing to eat my broccoli covered in gravy.

“Princess…didn’t Mr Byun show you how to work the coffee machine?” Jongdae asks.

I shook my head. “Nope.” I say. “He didn’t help at all, useless bastard!”

The guys burst into laughter at my words.

“Princess!” Sehun admonishes with a glare towards me. “You really can’t call him that!”

“But why not?!” I ask. “He calls me a ‘brat’! So, he’s not exactly an angel!”

“Oh? Does he now?” Minseok asks with a grin.

I nod. “Yeah, and he’s really mean and rude! He made me clean up all the coffee and put silly numbers into a spreadsheet!”

The guys all laugh even harder, including Chanyeol and Jongdae, however Sehun shakes his head and continues to eat his pie, having given up telling me to stop calling Baekhyun rude names.

“So, you don’t like your new boss, Princess?” Yixing asks.

I shake my head. “Nope! He’s evil!”

“You’re so blunt!” Minseok says, looking at me in interest. “All the women here would _kill_ to be in your position right now…” he adds with a smirk, looking at the others who nod in agreement.

I frown. “Why?” I ask. “Working for that bastard is so boring though…”

They chuckle again.

“Well…Mr Byun is seen by many in the female population here as being _very_ handsome and charming.” Luhan says from beside me.

The rest of the guys nod, however Jongdae, Chanyeol and Sehun frown, continuing to eat their lunches in silence.

I blush at Luhan’s words. “He’s not charming at all though!” I growl, putting my cutlery down. “He’s so rude to me and treats me like an idiot!”

“Well…I’ve never heard of him being rude to the women here before…” Junmyeon notes and the others nod in agreement.

I pause and then I frown. “He’s lying to you all!” I huff as I eat a large mouthful of pie, some gravy trickling out the corner of my mouth.

“Princess…you’ve spilt gravy down you.” Sehun says with a small sigh, putting down his cutlery and picking up a napkin. “Turn to me.”

I blush and do as he says and Sehun places his fingertips on my jaw, angling my face up and with care, he gathers a trail of gravy from my chin.

I can’t help but blush at our proximity and I can feel the eyes of the others on us…however, my eyes are fixed on Sehun and I notice how utterly… _handsome_ …he is so close up. His face structure is perfect…and his lips…god, his _lips…_

_Oh my…_

“There we are.” Sehun whispers, removing the napkin from my face, his fingers brushing my jaw.

I jolt out of my strange thoughts and look away from him and down at the table, my cheeks are burning so much.

I can still feel their eyes on me, but I don’t look up.

“Well anyway…” Yixing begins to say and we all look towards him and I’m glad that the attention has been diverted away from me. “the ladies here actually think that Mr Byun is the sexiest man alive…” he says with a grin, leaning towards me. “You won’t believe how many of them actually gossip and rave about Mr Byun behind his back, exchanging their ideal scenarios of him confessing his undying love to them or…showing his affections in more… _intimate_ ways…”

I blush hard and make a face. “Why would any woman like that abhorrent toe-rag in such a way?!” I splutter, and I choose not to ask them to elaborate, having a _very_ good idea of what they might be suggesting and not believing that women in the future actually think like that about the stupid future bastard.

They all laugh at my outburst again.

“Oh, she’s great, isn’t she?!” Minseok says, gesturing to me through bouts of laughter.

“She is…” Luhan agrees then he turns to me. “What did you call him again?”

“I called him an abhorrent toe rag.” I say with a shrug, trying to calm my blush and my pounding heart in my chest, not registering the fact that the cafeteria had grown silent and the sound of dress shoes walking towards me.

They all laugh again, including Jongdae and Chanyeol and suddenly, they all look behind me and their laughter dies down and instead of smiles, there are now looks of horror on their faces.

“What revolting vocabulary you have, Miss Windsor.” An evil voice says all of a sudden from behind me.

My blood runs cold.

I turn around and stare wide-eyed at who is stood behind me.

I gasp loudly. “You!” I shout, pointing at him. “What are you doing here?!”

Mr Byun glares and folds his arms. “What am _I_ doing here?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “I believe that I should be asking you that considering the fact that I haven’t let you go on your lunch yet!” He continues with a deadly lilt to his voice.

Sehun turns to me with a sharp whip of his head. “Princess!” he hisses. “You told me that Mr Byun let you go to lunch!”

I shrug and look away from Sehun then I meet Mr Byun’s glare and straighten in my seat. “So?” I ask, acting aloof. “I’m well within my right to have lunch, you don’t control me.”

Immediately, the table falls absolutely silent and I can feel my friends’ worried eyes on me.

“Are you actually questioning my authority, Miss Windsor?” Mr Byun says quietly, however his words are loud to my ears.

I know that I’m in huge trouble, however I can’t stop the words flying out of my mouth, my rage that I have had pent up since this morning flowing out of me. “Yes.” I say. “You’re rude and evil and you don’t control me!”

“Princess!” Jongdae says, leaning towards me. “Please don’t—”

Mr Byun’s eyes widen. “How charming.” He says. “Your manners are absolutely revolting.”

 I clench my fists in my lap and glare up at him.

“I think that your lunch is over now, you’ve had more than enough time to laugh and joke about me with your friends.” He says on a sharper note, glaring hard at the seven guys who all look away guiltily.

“But…I still need to finish my veg—” I begin to say, turning to my plate of delicious lunch.

“No. Your lunch is over.” Mr Byun snaps, looking livid.

I continue to stare at him. “But—”

“Stand up.” Baekhyun commands, a dark gleam twinkling in his eyes.

I glare at him and then I look away at my friends who are staring between us.

Then with a huff, I stand with my handbag and immediately, Mr Byun grabs my upper arm and drags me away from my friends’ table.

“Hey!” I shout, trying to scramble out of his hold. “Get your hand off me!” I growl, attracting the eyes of those in the cafeteria as Baekhyun drags me out through the doors and down a couple of hallways.

When we’re in a secluded space, Baekhyun releases my arm, causing me to stumble, my back hitting a wall.

“Ouch!” I whimper, rubbing my poor arm. “What was that for!”

Baekhyun sighs and rests a hand on the wall next to my head, leaning his face close to mine. “I wouldn’t be doing this if you had done what you were fucking told!” he whispers. _“I’m_ the one who decides when you can have your lunch, not you. Your lunches last for an hour, and you were down here for more than that.”

I glare hard. “But I was hungry—”

“Are you serious?” Baekhyun whispers. “You can’t go to lunch when I’m having lunch because you need to be answering emails and phone calls for me whilst I’m absent!” he says with a growl.

I continue to glare at him, hoping that he’ll somehow spontaneously combust under my stare.

“Now, stop glaring, you need to get back to work.” He says, removing his hand from the wall and beginning to lead the way.

I don’t follow him, continuing to glare.

Then he turns around and looks at me, his well-styled bronze tresses fluffing on his head. “Aren’t you coming, Miss Windsor?” he asks. “We don’t have all fucking day you know.”

I huff and stomp towards him.

Then he walks away again, and I follow behind him without a word as we travel up a lift towards his floor and then we step out and walk to his office.

When we arrive, I sit at my desk and he stops and stares down at me.

“Your lunches are only for an hour.” He says, sitting on my desk and picking up the sheet of requirements, highlighting the rule about lunchtimes with a bright yellow highlighter. “Is that understood, brat?”

I nod without a word, still glaring at him.

“Give me a verbal answer, Princess.” He whispers.

“Yes, Mr Byun.” I grumble, my fists clenching in my lap.

Baekhyun stares at me and then he nods. “Okay, and I also don’t want to babysit you like that again, I shouldn’t be running after you. It should be the other way around.”

“But I didn’t ask you to run around after me.” I grumble.

“Well, if I hadn’t have picked you up from the cafeteria, you probably would’ve stayed there for hours.” He says with a humourless laugh.

“I wouldn’t’ve!” I say with a glare, my fists clenching harder at the gall of him to tease and humiliate me like this.

_I really hate men like him!! He reminds me of Jongin, but eviller!!_

Baekhyun glares back. “And you need to tone down that glare of yours.” He adds in a whisper, putting down the sheet of requirements.

“Never.” I whisper, my glare intensifying.

Baekhyun’s eyes widen as they stare into mine and I can’t tell what’s going through his head.  

Then an evil smirk creeps its way onto his face. “Well, if you carry on like this, the wind will blow, and your face will be stuck like that forever.” He whispers.

I gasp and stop glaring. “No, it wouldn’t!” I splutter in horror at the very thought. “I won’t be glaring forever, will I?”

Baekhyun lets out a soft, mellifluous laugh and shakes his head. “Idiot.” He mutters as he stands and straightens out his navy-blue suit and stares down at me. “Now, I want you to sit here and finish that spreadsheet for me.” He commands. “I want it absolutely perfect when I come and check up on you in an hour and a half’s time.” He says. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, Mr Byun.” I grumble.

“Good.” He nods. “Now, I’ll even set a timer.” He says, taking an expensive smartphone out of his suit trouser pocket and tapping on it. Then he looks at me. “And your time starts…now.” He says, tapping his phone and putting it away. “Turn your chair around and get to work, Princess.” He commands.

I glare hard at him as I swivel in my desk chair and turn on the computer.

I can feel his hard eyes on me as I open the Excel spreadsheet.

Then he walks away and enters his office with a loud slam of the door, leaving me alone with all these confusing numbers.

_Oh, I hate my job!!!_

For a long while, I stare at the computer screen, then I have an idea and get my emails up. I type in the search bar and find Sehun’s email.

 

**To: Oh Sehun**

**From: Princess Windsor**

**Time: 14:30**

**Subject: HELP!**

**Dear Sehun,**

**I’m very, very, very stuck!!! I don’t know how to use this spreadsheet…so…could you help me?**

**Kind Regards,**

**Princess Windsor.**

**Personal Assistant at _Byun Enterprises co., Ltd._**

Then I click ‘send’ and watch as my email whooshes and gets sent to Sehun.

I lean back in my seat and wait.

I wait for a long while, making origami cranes to occupy myself and twenty minutes later, I receive a reply.

I put down my origami crane and click on the email:

 

 

**To: Princess Windsor**

**From: Oh Sehun**

**Time: 14:50**

**Subject: RE: HELP!**

**Dear Princess,**

**Didn’t Mr Byun show how to do it in the first place? Anyway, send it over to me and I’ll have a look at it for you. Just click, the button: ‘attach file’, to attach the spreadsheet. I’ll email you some instructions. And don’t panic. We’ll sort this.**

**Kind Regards,**

**Oh Sehun**

**Junior Brand Manager at _Byun Enterprises co., Ltd._**

 

 

I smile, glad that Sehun had replied and I do as he said, attaching the document to a new email. However, this does take me a little while to figure out, but I do it eventually.

When that’s done, I lean back in my seat and wait.

I peek through the window behind me at Baekhyun who’s typing on his computer and looking busy.

I quickly turn away so that he doesn’t notice me looking at him and then Sehun emails me again, telling me how to fill in the spreadsheet and he had even filled in some of it for me and corrected what I had done already.

Then I open an email and thank Sehun for his helpfulness.

 

 

**To: Oh Sehun**

**From: Princess Windsor**

**Time: 15:21**

**Subject: RE: HELP!**

**Thank you so much, Sehun! See you later! :)**

**Kind Regards,**

**Princess Windsor**

**Personal Assistant at Byun Enterprises co., Ltd.**

 

 

Then I click off the email and look at Sehun’s instructions and they’re simple and easy to follow, unlike Mr Byun’s complicated and long-winded explanation this morning that was so utterly confusing.

As I worked, I would send the spreadsheet to Sehun, just to make sure that I was doing it all correctly and he would correct me at times but other than that, I was doing great!

_I can do this!_

I’m so immersed that I don’t realise Mr Byun’s office door opening behind me.

“Time’s up, Miss Windsor.” He says as he stands behind me. “Have you finished yet?”

I stop typing and look up at him. “Yes.” I say, and I actually am!

_Take that, future toe-rag!_

Baekhyun glares and I can tell that he doesn’t look convinced. Then he sighs and leans down. “Alright, let’s take a look.” He says.

His head is so close to mine as he looks through my spreadsheet, I can feel his heat radiating against me, warming me up.

I blush at his proximity and shuffle away slightly.

His eyes dart towards me and I look away, then I look back and he’s focussed on the computer screen again

“So…how is it?” I ask after he hadn’t said anything for a while.

Baekhyun turns his head towards me. “It’s good.” He whispers and I can tell that it was very hard for him to say that.

I can’t help but grin widely, feeling glad that I have proved him wrong and I internally thank Sehun. “Yes!” I cheer to myself, wriggling in my seat.

Then Baekhyun straightens up and looks down at me with a glare. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, brat.” He mutters. “You still have a long way to go. Now, I want you to print it off.” He says.

My brain stutters at his unfamiliar words. “Print…it off?” I whisper, stopping my happy dance.

“Yes, Miss Windsor.” He says. “I want you to print this spreadsheet off for me at the photocopier.” He says, looking at me as if I’m stupid.

I continue to stare at him, his words completely flying over my head. I don’t ask what he meant or what a ‘photo-whatsit’ is because I don’t want him to become suspicious of me.

Baekhyun sighs and leans down, clicking on my mouse and I watch as he selects a printer and clicks ‘Print’.

Then he straightens. “Come, I’ll show you how to use the photocopier.” He says.

I nod and stand up and we both walk past the secretaries and towards a large white machine.

We both stand in front of it. “Now. You need to log in.” Baekhyun says, tapping on a small screen on the photo-whatsit.

Then he looks at me. “Well? Type in your username and password, brat.” He whispers when I hadn’t done anything.

I jump in surprise and glare at him. Then I type in my computer username and password and Baekhyun’s fingers brush against mine as he taps on the spreadsheet document and clicks: ‘Print’.

I blush, a small charge pulsing through me at the contact. I put down my hands and rest them by my sides, my heart beating slightly quicker in my chest. 

I peek a look at Baekhyun who stares at the huge machine which begins to whirr and buzz loudly.

I look away from Baekhyun and stare at this strange, futuristic invention. I bend down slightly and watch as the paper emerges with things written on it.

_Woah…_

Then all of a sudden, I meet Mr Byun’s hard eyes. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asks monotonously as he stares down at me with a raised eyebrow.

I blush and quickly stand up. “Nothing!” I say with a huff, brushing down my long black skirt.

_I need to be more inconspicuous and blend in!! Photo-whatsits are normal in the future!_

Baekhyun lets out a humourless laugh and shakes his head. “Weirdo.” He whispers.

I continue to glare hard at him, and he returns it.

Then the machine stops whirring and turns off.

I meet Baekhyun’s eyes again as he looks at me, seemingly waiting for me to do something.

“What?” I ask when he hadn’t said anything, feeling awkward under his untense gaze.

“Take the spreadsheet.” He growls, pointing to it.

I do as he says, glaring at him all the while, then he tells me to log out and I do so and we both walk towards my desk again and he takes the spreadsheet from me.

“That wasn’t hard now, was it?” he asks.

I shake my head as I sit down at my desk.

“Good.” He says. “Now, I want you to start on this.” He says, getting a binder out and opening it.

Then he begins to explain what he wants me to do and I honestly try and listen but it’s just so boring that I switch off.

“You understand?” he asks after his lengthy explanation.

I shake my head. “No.” I say. “I really don’t understand.”

Baekhyun sighs. “Princess, this is all really simple stuff.” he says. “What don’t you get?”

“All of it.” I say, staring up at him.

Baekhyun stares back, his fists clenching against my desk.

Then he breathes out a heavy breath, seemingly trying to keep calm. “Fine, let’s go through it again.” He says, flicking through some pages in the binder and repeating his explanation a second time.

“So…now do you understand?” he asks again after the second run-through.

I look up from the pages and meet his dark eyes, shadowed by his bronze tresses.

“I think so…” I say slowly, still confuzzled.

Baekhyun glares. “What do you mean ‘I think so’?” he scoffs. “It’s either you do understand it, or you don’t, brat so which one is it?!”

I glare at him. “I don’t understand!” I say.

Baekhyun sighs loudly and straightens up, rubbing his forehead in frustration. “God, I’m losing the fucking will to live.” He says. “I’m explaining it in the simplest of terms! There’s nothing else that I can say that will explain it clearer!” he says, staring down at me.

I open my mouth to reply, and all of a sudden, a loud ringing sound pierces the silence.

We both freeze, looking towards the handset which is flashing and making that noise.

“Well? Are you going to answer it, brat?” Baekhyun asks with a huff, gesturing to the phone.

I glare at him and pick up the phone, holding it to my ear like I’ve seen my three friends do before.

I can feel Baekhyun’s hard eyes on me.

“Hi?” I say, having never used a phone before and not knowing what to do whatsoever.

Baekhyun slaps his forehead. “Idiot.” He whispers.

I glare hard at him.

“Is this _Byun Enterprises?”_ a smooth, honey voice asks into my ear.

I jolt in my seat with a blush. “Y—yes.” I answer. “I’m his—Mr Byun’s personal assistant.”

Mr Byun continues to despair from beside me, but I ignore him.

The line goes silent. “Okay.” the beautiful voice says. “Well, I just wanted to call and say that I’m unavailable to come to the meeting tomorrow at ten o’clock.”

“Oh?” I say, looking at Baekhyun who’s glaring daggers at me. “You want to cancel your meeting?”

“Yes.” The smooth, honey voice continues. “Something came up so I’m not available, however, Monday is better for me. Is Mr Byun around at all?”

“Yes, he is.” I say, looking at Baekhyun who meets my eyes. “Shall I pass you to him?”

“That would be lovely.” The voice says and I can tell that they’re smiling

“Sure.” I whisper as I look at Baekhyun who’s mouthing something to me.

I remove the phone from my ear. “What?” I whisper.

“Ask for their name.” he whispers back, looking fed up of me.

I nod and put the phone back against my ear. “What’s your name?” I ask.

“I’m Do Kyungsoo.” He says.

I blush, his name is beautiful…

_Oh my…_

“Um…I’ll pass you onto Mr Byun n—now.” I stutter, my heart is pounding in my chest.

“Okay, thank you, Miss…?” Kyungsoo says and then he stops.

My eyes widen in realisation. I hadn’t told him my name yet. “Oh uh…Miss Windsor.” I say, my hands trembling.

“Thank you, Miss Windsor.” The voice says and I swear my heart melted at how he said my name.

Then I remove the phone from my ear and look at Baekhyun.

“It’s Do Kyungsoo.” I whisper, looking into his eyes.

Baekhyun nods and takes the phone from me.

“Good afternoon, Mr Do.” He says smoothly into the phone as he walks away from my desk and grips the handle of his office door. Then he gives me a glare that says, ‘we’ll talk later’ and he walks through and slams the door shut after himself.

I stare through the window at him as he sits at his desk and continues to talk into the phone.

Then I turn around and vaguely wonder who Do Kyungsoo is…and I can’t stop thinking about his honey voice which is now echoing in my ears and heart…

_Oh my…_

I quickly shake myself from my thoughts.

_What am I doing?? I barely know this Kyungsoo and I’m thinking about him! And I don’t even know what he looks like for goodness sake!_

So, I get started on the next bit of work.

Quickly, I get bored and begin making paper cranes again to occupy myself, my eyes continually darting to the small clock at the bottom of the computer.

I can’t wait until it’s home time…

 

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It’s now the next day (a Friday that is), and Sehun accompanies me up to Baekhyun’s office this time because Jongdae and Chanyeol are still embarrassed from yesterday lunchtime when Mr Byun caught them and the others talking about him.

Sehun and I walk out of the lifts and into the large, brightly lit space.

All of a sudden, Baekhyun walks out of the kitchen and smirks evilly.

“Good morning, Miss Windsor.” He says as he walks towards me in a nicely pressed dark grey suit, his bronze tresses refracting the sunlight streaming through the windows.

I glare at him and don’t respond as Sehun and I meet him half-way.

Then Sehun turns to Baekhyun. “Good morning, Mr Byun.” He says with a bow.

Baekhyun nods. “Good morning to you too, Mr Oh.” he says then he turns to me and smirks. “Still no response, Miss Windsor? Are you incapable of speech?”

“No, I am not!” I huff, folding my arms. “I’m just not talking to you!”

“Princess!” Sehun hisses, looking worried.

Baekhyun laughs and shakes his head, drawing our eyes to him. “Don’t worry about her, Mr Oh.” he says. “She must still be sensitive from yesterday when I made her fill out an excel spreadsheet and do paperwork.”

“Am not!” I growl.

Baekhyun’s eyes darken and flicker with an unknown emotion that makes my belly quiver, then he looks away from me and towards Sehun.

“Well, you may leave now, Mr Oh.” Mr Byun says.

Sehun nods and then he turns to me and I look up at him as he draws me towards him in a hug, his hands rubbing my back. “Be good.” He whispers into my ear.

I nod.

“Good girl.” Sehun says then he releases me from his hug. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yes, you too.” I say.

Then Sehun glances at Baekhyun. “Goodbye, Mr Byun.” He says with a bow, then he walks away from us.

I turn and stare after him as he enters a lift and as the doors close after him, leaving me alone with the future bastard.

“Now, I have something to show you.” Baekhyun says.

I rip my eyes away from the lifts and meet Baekhyun’s eyes. “What is it?” I demand with a glare.

“We really need to work on your manners, Princess…” He whispers, a grin tugging at his lips.

I blush, looking away from his dark, intense eyes that glimmer with something that I cannot discern.

Baekhyun clears his throat and I peek up at him. “Anyway, we'll deal with that later. But now, I want you to follow me.” He says, turning around and striding away.

With a huff, I follow Mr Byun into the small kitchen and stand beside him.

“Now, the new coffee machine arrived this morning.” He explains, patting the new, glimmering silver machine. “And I’m going to teach you how to use it, because I _really_ don’t want to be dealing with more broken and ruined items this week.” He finishes with a deadly lilt to his voice.

I gulp, knowing that he’s referring to his stupid, Italian suit.

“And plus, I need to teach you how exactly I like my coffee made, Miss Windsor.” He adds, looking into my eyes with his dark, glittering ones.

I blush under his stare and look away, liking how he had said my last name like that way more than I should.

_Why did his voice have to be so alluring!? It’s not fair!! He’s so evil!!_

“So, let’s begin.” Baekhyun says, interrupting me from my thoughts. “You put this jug underneath the spout, just like this.” He says, putting a large, fishbowl-like glass jug on the coffee machine, just beneath a spout.

I nod.

“Then we pour the ground coffee in here.” He says, indicating a cap. “Not here.” He adds with a glare, pointing to the electric output. “Now Princess, put the ground coffee in for me.” He commands.

I look into his eyes and grab the bag of coffee then I open the cap that he had indicated and begin to shake some coffee in.

“Oh, it’s a fucking miracle.” Baekhyun says all of a sudden with a dry laugh. “You know where to put the coffee now.”

“Hey!” I shout, turning towards him with a sharp whip of my head. “Don’t patronise me like this!”

“I’m not patronising you.” he says. “You did this to yourself, putting coffee in the electric output for goodness sake, what kind of an idiot does that?”

“Well—” I begin and then I stop because I can’t tell him that I had never seen a coffee machine before in my life, even though it’s the truth. I need to convince him that I’m definitely from the future.

“What was that Princess?” he prompts.

I jump out of my thoughts. “Nothing.” I say.

Baekhyun stares at me then he looks away and inside the coffee machine. “Put a bit more in.”

I do as he says.

“And…stop.”

I stop pouring coffee and put the bag down.

“Now, put the water in.” Baekhyun says, gesturing to a jug of water with a swish of his head.

I do as he says, picking up the water and pouring the water into the coffee machine.

“Stop.” Baekhyun says after a little while.

I do as he says and put down the jug.

“Now, close the cap and switch on the machine.” He commands, folding his arms.

I close the cap and look for the ‘On’ button.

“It’s here.” Baekhyun says with a sigh, pointing to a small red button with the word ‘On’ written on it.

Without a word, I press the button and immediately the coffee machine begins to whirr and buzz, but at least it’s not jumping and shaking like yesterday.

“Now, did you understand that, brat?” Baekhyun asks, turning to me.

“Yes.” I say with a nod.

“Good.” He says. “Now, that’s pretty simple, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Mr Byun.” I say.

“Good.” He says. “Now, I expect you to ask me whether I would like coffee on a two-hourly basis, okay?”

I nod.

“Now, I’m going to do some work, the coffee should be done in five minutes.” He says, glancing down at his watch. “And don’t mess it up, okay?” he says, looking me straight in the eyes.

“I won’t.” I say determinedly with a glare.

“Good.” Baekhyun says, shooting me a warning glare as he walks out of the kitchen, leaving me alone.

When he’s gone, I turn to the coffee machine again and wait, watching as the ‘coffee’ begins to patter into the large, fishbowl-like jug and I’m so in awe and as I stare, I actually wonder how this machine works and what’s inside it…

_It’s like magic…_

When the jug is half full, I turn off the machine and remove the jug, pouring the coffee into a pristine, white mug.

Then my curiosity gets the better of me and I try a sip of coffee.

I scrunch my face up and splutter at the vile, bitter taste.

_God that’s awful!_

I run to the sink and rinse my mouth out with water.

For the first time since I’ve arrived in the future, I never thought that I would _ever_ encounter something so foul before.

_Eww!!_

I turn off the tap and I’m glad that the terrible taste of coffee is now gone from my mouth.

Then I grab the mug and walk out of the kitchen towards Baekhyun’s office, I approach the door and walk through.

Baekhyun looks away from his computer and glares at me. “Miss Windsor, you didn’t knock.” He says.

I stare at him in shock, not knowing what to say.

“Walk out of my office and knock twice like I told you to do so yesterday.” He says with a cutting lilt.

“But—”

“Do it now.” He commands, glaring evilly at me, his dark eyes glittering.

I glare hard at him. “This is ridiculous!” I splutter.

“Princess, you are the one who’s being ridiculous here.” He says. “Now, do as I say and walk out of my office and knock twice.”

I glare harder at him, my grip tightening around his stupid coffee, then with a growl, I step out of his office and shut the door.

Then with annoyance shaking through me, I knock twice on the door.

“Who is it?” Baekhyun asks from inside and I can hear a hint of amusement in his voice.

I scowl at the gall of him to play about and ridicule me like this. “I have your coffee.” I call through, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

“But _who_ is it?” he asks again.

I grit my teeth and clench my fist, trying to keep calm. “You know it’s me! Princess!” I say. “I have your coffee, Mr Byun.”

“Oh? Miss Windsor?” he says in a fake tone of surprise. “Please come in.”

I take a deep breath and open the door and walk through.

Mr Byun looks away from his computer, his dark eyes fixed on me as I walk towards him and place his coffee onto the chestnut desk.

“Wrong.” Baekhyun murmurs, looking up at me. “My coffee always sits on this coaster here.” He says, pointing to a small white coaster. “Never _ever_ put coffee mugs on my desk otherwise it leaves marks, you brat. Chestnut wood isn’t cheap.”

I glare hard at him and pick up his stupid coffee, his eyes are pinned on me as I place it on the white coaster with a clink.

“Good girl.” He whispers. “We got there in the end.”

I glare harder at him, my fists shaking at my sides at his patronising behaviour towards me.

“Now, lets see how it tastes…” he says, picking up the mug and taking a sip, holding my eyes as he does so.

All of a sudden, Baekhyun splutters and coughs, spitting the coffee back in the mug. “That’s fucking awful.” He says, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

I can’t help but laugh at his pain, doubling over and clutching my stomach.

“You think this is funny, Miss Windsor?” he asks, glaring hard at me.

I straighten and meet his eyes. “Yes! Your face!” I say through wheezes, still trying to calm my laughter.

“Well, you won’t be laughing when I tell you to make me another one.” He says, holding the mug out towards me.

I stop laughing and look into his eyes. “Are you serious?” I ask.

Baekhyun smirks. “Oh yes.” He whispers. “You’re going to make me a new coffee, and you’re not going to stop until it’s absolutely perfect.”

“You can’t do this!” I growl.

Baekhyun laughs. “Yes, I can.” he says, “I’m the CEO of this company and like I’ve said many times, I can do whatever I want and right now I want you to make me another fucking coffee, Miss Windsor.”

I continue to stare at him, desperately wanting to teach him a lesson or two with my fists.

“Now, come on, we don’t have all day.” He prompts, holding his mug closer towards me. “Make me another coffee.”

I glare hard and take the mug from him, our fingertips brushing.

I blush as a pulse of heat shoots up my arm, but I try to repress it as I turn and walk out of his office, slamming the door shut behind me.

I retreat back into the kitchen and put on a new batch of coffee, this goes on for a long while, me brewing the coffee, putting it into a mug, knocking twice on Mr Byun’s door, him tasting the coffee, spitting it out and telling me to make a new one.

This has been going on for at least an hour and I’m sick of it!

“No, I’ve had enough!” I say as I storm out of his office and slam the door shut, having made what felt like to me a gazillion batches of stupid coffee.

“Princess!” Mr Byun calls after me as he walks out his office. “Don’t you dare talk back to me like that!”

“Then stop making me make you coffee then!” I fume, turning around and glaring hard.

“Well we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess if you could actually make a decent cup of coffee.” He counters.

“Then get someone else to do it!” I growl, walking towards him and getting close to his face. “Because I don’t want to anymore.”

“Well, tough Princess.” He whispers with a smirk, drawing his face closer to mine. “You’re stuck with me, now get your ass back to the kitchen and make me a—” 

“Mr Byun? I have a package for you.” a voice interrupts all of a sudden.

We both freeze and turn towards it, seeing a mailman who is rooting through a large bag.

I blush hard, only just realising how close Mr Byun and I are, his skin is so smooth…

I back away from him and take a seat at my desk, trying to calm my expeditiously beating heart.

Baekhyun looks away from me and straightens out his dark grey suit. “Ah, there it is.” He says with a smile, walking over to the mailman who takes out a cardboard package from his mail bag and hands it over.

Baekhyun signs a form and then the mailman leaves through the lifts.

“What is that?” I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Baekhyun turns to me with an evil smirk, holding up the small, cardboard package. “This is actually for you, Miss Windsor.” He says, walking towards me.

“For me?” I inquire with a raised eyebrow, not sure about trusting my new, evil boss.

“Yes.” He says with a nod. “I got it specially made for you.” he continues, sitting on my desk and ripping open the cardboard box.

I eye the package suspiciously, not liking the heinous glint in his eyes at all as he stares down at me with a grin.

Finally, Baekhyun is able to whip off the cardboard packaging and he smirks when he takes out a long, thin carboard box then he opens it and reveals a long, bright pink triangular prism and puts it on my desk.

“What is it?” I ask with a raised eyebrow, looking up at him.

“It’s your name plaque.” Baekhyun explains, picking it up and turning it around. “See, it says your name in pretty pink letters with flowers surrounding it. Do you like it?”

I look at the name plaque and indeed the words: _‘Princess Windsor’_ are written in light pink letters.

“No.” I say honestly, scowling at that colour which is the same colour of that strawberry milkshake that got me into all this mess! “It’s embarrassing, Mr Byun!” I seethe, clenching my fists.

Baekhyun chuckles derisively and folds his arms. “Embarrassing? This doesn’t even compare to how embarrassed you made me feel the other day when you spilt that revolting milkshake all over my finest Italian suit!”

“Look, I said I was sorry about that!” I say, putting my hands up. “But do you really have to embarrass me like this?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun says with a smirk standing up from my desk and smoothing out his stupid dark grey suit. “Now, I need to get back to work and you need to make me that coffee—”

“I’m not making it!” I huff, folding my arms. “Just get it yourself if you don’t like how I make it!”

Baekhyun’s eyes harden as he walks towards me and grips the back of my chair, bending down and looking into my eyes. “Princess are you really going to continue talking to me like this?” he whispers.

I meet his glare with one of my own. “Yes, if you keep asking me to make you coffee!”

Mr Byun continues to stare, his eyes are unreadable, and his face is so close, making me blush. “But that’s apart of the job description.” He says. “You’re my personal assistant, you do things for me when I ask you to and right now, you’re going to make me a coffee, okay?”

I glare hard at him.

“And stop glaring, Princess.” He whispers. “Otherwise I’ll really give you something to glare about like…calling the police and reporting you for—”

I gasp. “You wouldn’t.” I whisper.

“Oh yes I would.” He says. “Now, make me another coffee, please.”

I glare hard again and then I sigh, knowing that I can’t fight against him whatever I do, it’s all fruitless. “Yes Mr Byun.” I mumble.

“Good girl.” He says with a nod as he straightens and enters his office, slamming the door hard behind him.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

After I had finally made a coffee of ‘substantial effort’ as quoted by the rude, future bastard, he told me to get working on yet another spreadsheet. This continued for a long while until he dismissed me for lunch and then timed it on his phone.

I managed to have lunch at the cafeteria and get back to the office on time, thanks to some help from my friends who reminded me during lunch.

And after that, I answered phone calls, emails and continued with the new stinky spreadsheet. I would occasionally email the spreadsheet over to Sehun so that he could check whether I was on the right track or not.

It was now much later in the day and I’m working on the spreadsheet, the golden sun is slowly setting over the concrete, Seoul skyline.

“Hey, Princess!” a familiar voice says all of a sudden.

I look away from my computer screen and my eyes widen when I see my friends all stood there.

“Guys!” I greet, feeling so glad to see them. “What are you doing here?”

My three friends all smile and approach me.

“Well, your shift is over now, Princess.” Chanyeol says, looking down at his watch. “It’s 18:07.”

My eyes widen and I look at the clock at the bottom of my computer screen and indeed, Chanyeol is right. I hadn’t even noticed because I was so focussed on my work.

“And we wondered whether you’d like to join us at the bar for some drinks?” Jongdae asks with his kitty smirk. “We all go drinking on Fridays.”

“Drinks?” I ask. “You mean like…alcohol?”

The three men all nod with smiles.

“Sure.” I say, having never had the opportunity to recreationally drink alcohol in the past, due to the fact that I had to keep up appearances as the Crown Princess of Korea.

“So, are you gonna tell Mr Byun that you’re going?” Sehun asks, gesturing with a swift movement of his head towards Baekhyun’s office. “He should have dismissed you already.”

I look behind me through the window at Baekhyun who is on the phone again like always.

“Okay.” I say, standing from my seat and brushing down my long, ankle length skirt. Then I walk towards his office door and knock twice.

“Yes?” Baekhyun calls from inside.

I walk through and peek my head around the door.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “If you’ll just excuse me for a moment, Mr Kim.” He says then he removes the phone from his ear and looks at me. “What is it Miss Windsor?” he asks.

“Mr Byun, it’s my time to go home now.” I tell him.

Baekhyun’s eyes narrow. “Princess, you still have half an hour left of your shift…” he says then he looks at his computer and his eyes widen. “Oh…”

I smirk to myself at the fact that I had proved him wrong. “So, may I leave now?” I prompt after he hadn’t said anything.

Mr Byun’s eyes flash towards me. “Yes.” He says with a sigh, running a slender hand through his hair.

“Thank you, Mr Byun.” I say with an overly enthusiastic smile to piss him off.

“Have a good weekend, Miss Windsor.” Baekhyun says, not looking bothered by my fake joviality in the slightest.

I blink and look at him, shocked at the polite words that I had never thought would ever escape from his lips. “Um…you too…” I say weakly after a little while. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” He says back, still holding my eyes with a smirk tugging at his lips as he raises the phone to his ear again and begins talking.

I blush and walk out of the office and shut the door.

“Princess? What’s this?” Chanyeol asks with a chortle, holding up the embarrassing, flowery pink name plaque.

“Mr Byun got it for me.” I grumble as I turn off my computer and pick up my handbag.

“It’s very…gaudy…” Jongdae points out.

“It’s so embarrassing!” I huff. “Now put it down!”

“Oh, but it’s so cute!” Chanyeol says with a chuckle.

“Stop, oppa!” I whine, trying to snatch it out of his hands but he’s so tall that I can’t.

They all stop and Chanyeol blushes hard, immediately putting down the name plaque and coughing into his fist.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, noticing the sudden shift in mood.

My three friends all stop glaring at each other and meet my eyes.

“Nothing, Princess.” Sehun reassures, shooting a glare at Chanyeol who returns it. “Now, shall we go?”

I nod and we all walk out of the large, white space and past the secretaries.

We enter the lifts and soon we reach the ground floor and walk through the large, sparkly entrance hall and into the light, slightly cool summer evening.

Then the three guys lead me down the streets and we all talk and have fun on the way, all of us glad that work is over for another week and looking forward to the weekend.

Eventually, we all stop outside a small building with potted plants in the windows and the smell of cigarettes and alcohol in the air.

I notice that the ‘bar’ is near the manhole where I had emerged from exactly a week ago. The orange barriers are still there and there are construction men working on it still.

I can’t believe that I’ve been here for a week already, it feels like I’ve been here longer in some strange way…

“This is the bar where we all normally go on Fridays.” Jongdae explains as he leads me inside with an arm around my shoulders.

I nod and we all enter, the place is quite crowded and there is some smooth jazz music in the background.

The place smells of alcohol and peanuts but strangely the smell is comforting, and I welcome it.

Then we all find a booth in the corner and sit down, Sehun sits with me and Jongdae and Chanyeol sit opposite us.

“Now, what would you like to drink, Princess?” Chanyeol asks, looking at me.

“What is there?” I ask, settling against the royal red leather of the booth.

“Well…there’s beer, wine, cocktails…” Sehun says, turning towards me.

“I think you should have a beer.” Jongdae says with a kitty-grin.

“A beer?” I say.

“I agree.” Chanyeol chortles. “You need to have at least one beer whilst you’re here, Princess.” He says.

“Is that okay with you?” Sehun asks.

I nod. “Yeah.” I say. “I would like to try a beer.”

Jongdae and Chanyeol share a grin.

“That’s a good girl.” Chanyeol says, standing up and patting my head.

“Chanyeol!” I whine with a giggle when he messed up my hair.

Chanyeol simply laughs then he looks at Sehun. “What are you going to have, designated driver?”

“Just coke.” Sehun says, getting his phone out of his black suit trouser pocket.

Chanyeol nods and then he walks away, his tall form disappearing through the crowds.

We didn’t have to wait long until Chanyeol comes back and sits down with three glasses of beer and a coke for Sehun.

“Here you are, Princess.” Chanyeol says as he places a large glass of beer in front of me, fluffy white beer foam frothing at the top.

“Thank you, Chanyeol.” I say as I wrap a hand around the cold glass and smell.

_Hmm…_

“What are you waiting for?” Jongdae asks, staring at me as he takes a sip of his beer. “Try it, Princess!”

I look up from my beer and meet the three men’s eyes. I nod, and then I pick up the glass and tentatively, I take a long sip.

I put down my glass with a clink and swallow my mouthful of beer.

_Oh god…_

“How is it?” Chanyeol asks, his wide eyes fixed on me.

“It’s…really good.” I say with a smile, drinking some more.

_Oh my…It’s exquisite!_

The guys all share a look and a smile.

“That’s the spirit, sweetheart.” Jongdae says with his kitty-smirk.

I swallow another mouthful and put down my cool glass.

“There’s beer foam on your lips.” Sehun whispers from beside me, sipping his coke through a straw.

I blush and wipe the beer foam away and lick my finger.

Then we all descend into conversation as we drink our drinks, the guys tell me about their day and we all just enjoy the atmosphere of the small, cosy pub and the fact that it’s now the weekend.

“So, how was today with Mr Byun?” Chanyeol asks, turning to me after a while of calming conversation.

I take a sip of my half-finished beer and look at Chanyeol.

“He was such a bastard.” I slur, slamming my glass down on the table.

Jongdae and Chanyeol laugh, looking as drunk as I.

“What did he do now, Princess?” Jongdae asks, mirth dancing in his eyes.

“He made me make him coffee!” I say. “I mean, why can’t he do it himself!? He’s so lazy!”

“Well it is your job.” Sehun points out with a roll of his eyes, the only sane one in the booth as he sips his coke.

“But still! He has hands! If he didn’t like my coffee, he could have just made it himself instead of getting me to do it for him!” I contend with a pout, drinking the rest of my warming beer. “I swear that guy hates me.”

They all frown.

“You know, for the amount of years that we’ve known Baekhyun-ah, not once has he ever been rude to women.” Jongdae points out, taking a sip of beer.

I scoff, not believing his words in my drunk state. “Yeah right.” I huff.

“It’s true Princess.” Chanyeol insists. “When Baekhyun-ah was younger, he always treated girls well, he was friends with some of them and he had girlfriends whom he doted on and cared for. And at the office, he’s always cordial with the women there.”

“Really?” I slur, taking another sip of beer.

The three handsome men all nod at me.

Sehun turns towards me. “And it was a huge shock to us on Wednesday when he was talking to you like that when you spilt that milkshake on him and when he came and dragged you away at lunch yesterday.” Sehun adds. “We’ve never seen him like that with a woman before.”

“But maybe that’s his true nature.” I say. “Maybe that’s what the future bastard’s really like with women, but you all don’t see that. He’s lying to you all, pretending he’s the good guy when really, he’s the _bad guy_ …” I say, my head lolling on Sehun’s shoulder.

“You don’t even make any fucking sense.” Chanyeol chuckles, looking at me in amusement.

“I think we should leave now.” Sehun says all of a sudden, putting down his empty can of coke then he turns to me. “You look exhausted.” He notes.

I meet his eyes and nod. “I’m so tired, Sehunnie.” I whisper, the alcohol is warm in my tummy, making me sleepy.

Sehun blushes at the nickname that I had given him then he looks away and towards the others. “Are you ready to go?” he asks.

Jongdae and Chanyeol nod and then we all decide to leave.

Sehun helps me out of my seat and I cling to him as we all walk out of the crowded pub together and into the busy streets towards the _Byun Enterprises_ carpark where Sehun’s car is.

 

 

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

On the Saturday, I woke up with a pounding headache, which I came to learn was called a ‘hangover’ and I took some pills to help cope with the excruciating pain.

Then I watched romance dramas on the TV and ate popcorn with Sehun and the others.

However, Jongdae and Chanyeol weren’t watching, they were just commenting every so often on how stupid the main character was and how idiotic the whole show was because the two main characters were so oblivious to the fact that they were in love.

I could see what Chanyeol and Jongdae were getting at, however Sehun didn’t appreciate their comments and gave them an ultimatum to shut up and watch the drama or leave us alone. The two eventually stopped their comments and watched the TV without complaint.

Other than that, I immersed myself in my mural, finally having the opportunity to use my new Prussian blue oil paint that Jongdae had bought for me at the market. I’ve been able to finish the sky and I have no begun on the red and gold detail of the palace.

I was immensely enjoying my weekend and I was dreading Monday morning where I would have to return to work as a personal assistant to the mean and rude Mr Byun Baekhyun…

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It’s now Monday afternoon, and I’m sitting at my desk, making paper cranes because I’m bored out of my mind and I can’t concentrate! And Baekhyun hadn’t explained the work well enough to me again, so I don’t know what to do but I also don’t want to ask him because I don’t want to do the work either.

Being at the office is _so_ boring…

Suddenly, I hear footsteps walking towards my desk.

I look up from my paper crane and my eyes latch onto a stunningly beautiful young man wearing a light grey suit which is well-fitted to his slim physique, he has cropped, onyx tresses and full heart-shaped lips…

The beautiful man approaches and sits down at a black sofa near my desk.

“Hi.” I say stupidly without thinking.

The man looks up at me and smiles. “Hello.” He says in a deep, familiar voice.

I blush and smile, his voice is like honey…I swear I almost melted right there.

He continues to stare at me. “Are you Mr Byun’s new personal assistant or?” he asks.

I shake myself out of my thoughts and nod. “Yeah, I am.” I say, sitting straight in my chair. “My name is Princess Windsor, it’s nice to meet you.”

The man nods in understanding. “Ah, so you are the Miss Windsor whom I spoke to on Thursday?”

I blush, remembering my first ever time using a phone. “Yes.” I say. “And you must be Do Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo smiles and nods. “Yes, that’s me.”

I nod, he sounds so much better in real life than on the phone.

_How is that possible?!_

“So, is Mr Byun available or?” Kyungsoo asks.

I jolt and look behind me through the window and the future bastard is talking on the phone.

“He’s on the phone.” I say, swivelling back in my chair.

Kyungsoo nods. “Okay then.” He says then he looks down at his watch. “I’m quite early anyway.”

I blush hard and shake myself out of my thoughts, he’s now flicking through some papers on his lap, looking very focussed.

“Um…” I begin to say.

He looks up and meets my eyes with a small, inquiring smile.

“Why are you here?” I ask and I mentally cringe at my bluntness.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. “Well, I’m here for a meeting with Mr Byun.” He responds. “I’m his business partner. I’m the CEO of a fashion company.”

I simply nod and look down at my masses of origami cranes, my desk is nearly a crane metropolis. I peek out of the corner of my eye at Kyungsoo who is looking through his papers again.

I decide not to talk more to him even though I want to, so I pick up a sheet of paper and begin to make another paper crane.

Suddenly, I look up and find him staring at me, I can’t read his face and that unnerves me.

“What?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

His heart-shaped lips quirk up in a smile. “Why so many cranes?” he asks.

I blush. “I like making them.” I say with a pout, putting the freshly made crane next to the many others. “And because I’m bored.”

Kyungsoo laughs softly and my heart flutters at the dulcet sound. “But you must have work to do, right?” he asks. “Being a personal assistant is quite a demanding job, Miss Windsor.”

I blush at how smoothly my name fell from his lips. It suits his voice so well. “Yeah, it’s really stressful.” I agree, thinking back to last week when I broke the coffee machine, struggled with emails and the phone and the computer in general and the photo-whatsit. “I do have work, I just don’t know how to do it.”

“You don’t know how?” Kyungsoo asks. “Why don’t you know?”

“Well, the bas—, I mean, _Mr Byun_ never told me.” I grumble, picking up another piece of paper. “He’s very mean and rude and needs some manners.”

Kyungsoo stares at me as if I have tentacles undulating out of my head, then he laughs.

I blush and look up from my cranes. “What?” I ask, worried that I had said something wrong.

“Nothing, it’s just…” he says, trying to gather himself. “You said it so bluntly.”

“Is that a bad thing?” I ask with a tilt of my head.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Of course not,” he says then he meets my eyes. “It’s rare to meet anyone honest these days who says what they think out loud and especially towards Mr Byun.”

I blush. “Thank you.”

Kyungsoo returns my smile.

Then all of a sudden, Mr Byun’s office door smashes open, we both look towards it, seeing Baekhyun leaning against the doorway, looking at both of us with a raised eyebrow, a hand in the pocket of his pristine midnight-black suit.

“I hope that she hasn’t been bothering you.” Baekhyun says, looking at Kyungsoo. “She’s my new personal assistant and she’s very stupid.”

“Hey!” I retort, clenching my fists.

“Don’t talk back, Miss Windsor!” Baekhyun reprimands. “Now have you finished that spreadsheet for me yet?”

I look at the computer screen with the half-finished spreadsheet on it. “Um, nearly.” I lie, pretending to type on the keyboard and I can feel his hard eyes on me.

“Actually, Miss Windsor wasn’t bothering me at all, Mr Byun.” Kyungsoo says as he stands from the leather sofa and straightens his pristine, light grey suit.

Baekhyun and I both look towards him.

“Really?” Mr Byun asks, looking slightly shocked.

“Yes, she’s a very pleasant person to talk to.” Kyungsoo continues with a smile at me.

I blush and look away, trying to calm my smile and my pounding heart in my chest.

“Well.” Baekhyun says with a cough. “Would you like to come in now?” he asks, looking at Kyungsoo.

“Yes, of course.” Kyungsoo says, then he meets my eyes. “I’ll see you around, Princess.”

“You too!” I squeak with a nod.

He nods and then he looks away and walks into Mr Byun’s office without another word.

As soon as he’s gone, Baekhyun glares at me. “You better be doing your fucking work.” He says, walking up to me and picking up one of my origami cranes. “And don’t do this ever again, it makes you look unprofessional and your actions are a reflection of myself. So, stop.”

I glare up him as he crushes my origami crane and drops it onto my desk.

“Is that understood, brat?” he asks.

“Yes.” I growl out.

“Yes what?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

I sigh. “Yes, Mr Byun.”

“No, you call me, ‘Sir’ now.” He says, a dark gleam floating in his eyes. “You need more respect for me. And I’m going to teach you it. Is that understood, Princess?”

“Yes, sir.” I say, staring up at him.

“Good.” He says with a nod, then he walks into his office and slams the door.

When he’s gone, I growl to myself and bury my face in my hands, so annoyed and tired of Mr Byun belittling me like this.

I peek behind me through the window as Mr Byun and Kyungsoo settle at his desk and begin to talk. I glare hard at Baekhyun, hoping that he would suddenly collapse in excruciating pain.

All of a sudden, Baekhyun’s eyes flash towards mine and he glares, gesturing for me to turn around with a movement of his long, slender finger.

I make a face at him and do as I’m told, turning in my seat and looking through the second spreadsheet that I still need to finish but have no energy or willpower to do so.

So, I half-heartedly begin to work on the spreadsheet again in between adding to my hoard of paper cranes every once in a while.

After a long while, the office door opens and Mr Byun and Kyungsoo walk out together.

I jump and quickly scoop my army of paper cranes into my empty desk drawer and slam it shut.

Then Kyungsoo stops and meets my eyes. “It was lovely meeting you, Miss Windsor.” He says. “Have a wonderful rest of your day.”

I jolt in my seat and look up at him. “Um…you too.” I mumble, blushing hard.

Kyungsoo smiles, his heart-shaped lips drawing my eyes. “I’ll see you soon.” He says.

I nod.

Then Baekhyun turns and walks towards me. “Miss Windsor, Mr Do and I are going to lunch together this afternoon.” He says. “So, I’ll be back whenever.”

I nod up at him. “Yes, Mr Byun.” I say, my tummy rumbling, and I desperately want to ask when I’ll have my lunch but for some reason, I don’t want to ask this in front of the handsome Do Kyungsoo, worried at how he would judge me.

“So, whilst I’m gone, make a note of phone calls and emails and…” he says, bending down so that his lips are close to my ear. “Don’t you dare walk off and go to lunch by yourself, is that understood?”

A warm shiver traverses down my spine at his proximity and my heart skips a beat. “Yes, Mr Byun.”

“Good girl.” He says, straightening up and staring down at me. “Now behave, alright?”

I nod up at him.

His eyes darken and glitter, then he nods and walks over to Kyungsoo who is looking at us both then the two men walk away and past the secretaries who stare after them with blushes and giggles, then they enter the lifts and the doors close.

When they’re gone, I open my desk drawer and take out my paper cranes, placing them back on my desk. Then I try to get back to work on the spreadsheet, but I can’t, so I pick up yet another plain piece of paper and begin to make more paper cranes.

 

 

 

****

 

 

A long while later, I hear footsteps.

I look up, catching sight of Mr Byun walking through the large space by himself, the secretaries are all staring adoringly at him in a way that makes me sick, however he takes no notice of them and I wonder whether he actually knows that they are looking at him like that or not.

I look away from him and quickly sweep my masses of origami cranes into an empty drawer in my desk and pretend to type on my computer.

“Miss Windsor.” Baekhyun greets, stopping by my desk.

I look up and meet his eyes.

“I’m back from lunch now, so you may go on yours.” He says, folding his arms.

I smile, my tummy rumbling at the thought of food and lunch and of seeing my friends again after so long. “Thank you.” I say as I collect my handbag and stand up, brushing down my long, ankle length skirt.

“And remember.” Baekhyun says, taking a step closer towards me. “Your lunch is an hour and don’t make me have to come find you again.” He whispers, staring me dead in the eye.

I stare back and nod. “Okay.” I say, trying to get used to the fact that I can’t dictate my lunchtimes anymore.

Baekhyun’s eyes harden. “No, Princess. You say, ‘Yes, sir’.”

I blush. “Yes, sir.” I whisper.

Baekhyun’s eyes darken, a strange glint floating within them. “Good girl.” He says. “Now have a nice lunch.”

I blink, surprised at how polite he could sound and that those words actually fell from his lips.

Then I walk away from him and through the large white space and towards the elevators and then I realise that I don’t know how to get to the cafeteria.

I turn around and see that Baekhyun isn’t there and I assume that he went back into his office. So, I turn around as the lift opens. I step inside and press the button for the ground floor.

The lift doors close and I descend all the floors. Some people get in with me and gawk at me, whispering about what had happened in the cafeteria on my first day last week when Baekhyun dragged me away from my friends.

I blush and ignore them, looking down at my shoes.

Soon, the lift arrives at the ground floor and I exit and walk out, looking around the large, sparkly entrance hall for any signage pointing towards the cafeteria.

“Princess!” a familiar voice calls all of a sudden.

I look around and catch sight of Chanyeol who’s smiling as he walks towards me with a large brown bag in his arms.

“Chanyeol!” I greet as he stops in front of me.

“I was about to come get you!” he says, shifting the large bag in his arms. “I went to McDonalds for everyone.” He says, gesturing to the bag.

My eyes widen. “Really!” I almost squeal, beginning to get excited. “Did you get McNuggets?” I ask, trying to peek in the bag,

Chanyeol laughs. “Of course, I did.” He says fondly. “Now, let’s go up, we’re eating in our office today.”

I nod and we both walk through the sparkly entrance hall together and enter a lift.

“Chanyeol, do you need some help?” I ask, eyeing the very heavy, yet nice-smelling bag.

Chanyeol shakes his head. “No, it’s all good Princess.” He says, pressing a button and the doors close. “Thank you, though.”

I nod and we both stand in the lift and eventually we reach our floor.

Chanyeol and I walk out, and he leads me down many hallways and eventually we enter a small office with lots of desks pushed together in the centre and Minseok, Luhan, Junmyeon, Yixing, Jongdae and Sehun are all sat there talking and having fun.

As soon as we walk through, they all turn to us and smile.

“Princess!” Jongdae greets with his kitty-smirk.

I blush and wave at them all. “Hello everyone.” I say.

“Finally, you’re here, Yeol.” Minseok says as he puts down his phone and stretches in his seat. “You were ages.”

“Well, sorry.” Chanyeol huffs as he puts the brown bag of deliciousness down onto his desk. “The line was very long, and you all asked for so much stuff.” He grumbles, taking out boxes of food and all the guys stand up and collect their lunches from Chanyeol.

Then, Chanyeol gives me a box of McNuggets and a strawberry milkshake. “There you are, Princess.” He says with a smile.

“Thank you, oppa.” I say, taking the greasy, delectable foods from him with a smile.

The rest of the guys look up at my words, and Minseok, Luhan, Junmyeon and Yixing raise an eyebrow, however they don’t say anything.

Chanyeol blushes and smiles. “You’re welcome.” He says, getting out his lunch and sitting down at his desk.

All the guys are sat at their desks and there’re no other seats left.

I look around awkwardly with my food clutched in my hands.

Jongdae notices this and stands up. “Princess, would you like my seat?” he asks, drawing everyone’s eyes towards me and him.

I flush at all the attention on me, feeling awkward. “Um…no it’s okay.” I say, not wanting to cause any inconvenience.

“No, I insist.” Jongdae says, walking towards me and taking my wrist in his hand. “Please take my seat.”

I stare into his eyes and I blush pink, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. Then I nod and allow Jongdae to lead me towards his seat between Chanyeol and Minseok and I sit down.

Then a thought occurs to me and I look up at him. “But where will you sit?” I ask.

“I’ll just get a chair from the next room.” Jongdae says with a smile, patting my shoulder.

I nod and he walks out of the office.

The room is silent after his departure and everyone is staring at me.

I take off my black suit jacket and roll my white shirt sleeves up to my elbows then I catch their eyes and frown. “What?” I ask.

They all say: ‘Nothing.’ And look away, focussing on their delectable McDonald’s lunches.

I frown at them all, but I leave it, far too hungry to wonder why they had been staring at me. Then I open my packet of delicious chicken McNuggets and fries and begin to dig in.

Then the door opens and Jongdae walks in with a chair and sits between me and Chanyeol.

As Jongdae sits and begins to eat, I notice Chanyeol glaring at him and I wonder why this was, but I ignore it, indulging myself in my delicious chicken McNuggets.

As we all eat, the guys chat and laugh about many different things.

“So, Princess how are you getting on with Mr Byun since we last spoke to you?” Yixing asks all of a sudden and everyone’s eyes swivel towards me in interest.

I swallow my mouthful and frown. “Terrible.” I say, dipping another nugget in ketchup and eating it.

“Let me guess, he made you fill out a spreadsheet again?” Minseok asks with a laugh from beside me and the rest of them copy him.

I nod. “Yes, he did.” I say. “And he showed me how to use the new coffee machine on Friday and he kept making me brew coffees for him because they weren’t to his standards. It’s like he thinks I’m an imbecile or something. He patronises me a lot and it’s really grating on me!” I say with a growl, ripping into a poor chicken nugget.

The guys all look at each other smile.

“Anyway…I don’t want to talk about that bastard.” I say, swallowing my mouthful and suddenly, a thought occurs to me. “Oh…and do any of you know who…um…Do Kyungsoo is?” I ask with a bright red blush that I try to suppress.

They all look at me, surprised at the sudden shift in conversation.

“He’s one of Mr Byun’s most important business partners.” Junmyeon says, taking a sip of coke. “Why?”

They all look towards me again and I pick up my strawberry milkshake. “Well…he visited Mr Byun today.” I say.

They all nod in understanding.  

“Have you all met him?” I ask.

They all nod again.

“Yeah, he’s quite pleasant.” Minseok says, swallowing his mouthful of burger. “He built up his own fashion company all from scratch.”

“He’s only twenty-four years old.” Junmyeon says. “Yet he was able to build up his company in a space of four years.” He says as the rest of them nod.

“Oh my…” I whisper.

“His company is worth billions.” Yixing adds. “He has strongholds all around the world, so he’s very influential and rich.”

I nod, taking in all this information as I eat my nuggets, occasionally dipping them into some ketchup.

“He’s quite weird though. Doesn’t smile a lot and he’s very quiet.” Chanyeol puts forth, taking a large bite of his burger. “Strange guy.”

I frown. “When I talked to him today…he was really talkative…and he smiled…” I counter with a pink blush at the memory of his dulcet honey voice.

The guys all look at each other and raise an eyebrow.

“Oh…has Princess got a little crush?” Luhan says with a smirk, putting down his burger.

I blush hard. “No!” I say firmly, folding my arms. “I certainly don’t! I barely know him for goodness sake!” I splutter.

“Yeah, you’re way too young to have crushes anyway.” Jongdae says from beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“Hey! I’m twenty years old for goodness sake! Of course, I’m old enough to have crushes!” I say, removing Jongdae’s arm from my shoulders.

Jongdae frowns at me, but I ignore him as I eat my nuggets, my cheeks are burning so hard and I try and calm myself down, but I can’t.

The guys all look at each other. “Well…Mr Do is actually taken.” Sehun says. “He has a very beautiful fiancée. They got engaged just recently.”

I look up as all the guys nod with smirks.

“A fiancée?” I ask, my heart breaking slightly in my chest at the news.

_Why am I feeling this?? I barely know Kyungsoo for goodness sake…_

“Yeah, she’s a hot German lingerie model.” Yixing says. “Lucky bastard.”

I put down my nuggets and for some reason I frown, my heart constricting. “What does she look like?” I ask curiously.

“I’ll show you.” Minseok says, taking out his smartphone and tapping on it, then he turns the screen towards me, and I gasp.

I stare wide-eyed at the image.

The woman is stunning.

She has flowing platinum blonde hair, a tanned body, ample sized breasts and she is basically naked, except she’s wearing a light blue bikini that is well-fitted to her lines and curves.

“Pretty, isn’t she?” Minseok says.

“She needs more clothes.” I say with a frown, looking away with a monumental blush, still not used to seeing people in such little amounts of clothing like that.

The guys all hear my comment and laugh.

“Your reactions are priceless, Princess.” Yixing says, wiping away a tear as he continues to laugh.

“What’s her name?” I ask when their laughter dies down, a strange emotion welling in my chest.

“Her name’s Heidi Edelstein.” Jongdae says. “She’s quite famous, models for _Victoria’s Secret_ and many other fashion brands.”

I nod, not knowing what a _‘Victoria’s Secret’_ is but I don’t ask.

Suddenly, the door creaks open and we all turn towards it, seeing Baekhyun standing there with a very unamused frown on his face.

“Found you.” he says with a dark glint in his eyes as he walks through and shuts the door, his gaze fixed on me.

I gulp. “What are you doing here?” I ask. “My hour isn’t up yet!”

Baekhyun laughs darkly as he stops in front of me and turns his phone towards me. “You’re fifteen minutes late.” He says.

My breathe hitches in my throat as I look at the screen.

_Damn!_

Baekhyun smirks and pockets his phone and then he sniffs the air and frowns. “What’s that smell?” he asks, then he looks down at my lunch. “McDonalds.” he says with a curl of his lips.

I smile. “Don’t you like, McDonalds Mr Byun?” I ask.

“No, it’s revolting and unhealthy.” he says, folding his arms across his hard chest.

“Oh but…it’s _so_ tasty!” I say with an overly enthusiastic smile, picking up a nugget and taking a bite. “Yum!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Baekhyun chastises with a glare.

I swallow my mouthful and smile sardonically up at him. “Sorry!” I say, but I really don’t mean it.

My friends are all staring at me and Mr Byun in shock, none of them saying anything.

“You have some ketchup on your chin.” Chanyeol whispers all of a sudden, grabbing a napkin and wiping it away.

“Oppa!” I giggle, moving away from him because it tickles.

It immediately falls silent and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. I look around and when I meet Chanyeol’s eyes, he blushes and looks away from me.

“So, are you and Chanyeol dating, Princess?” Baekhyun asks, looking at me and I can’t tell what he’s thinking at all.

“What?” I ask with a raised eyebrow as I swivel in Jongdae’s desk chair and look up at the rude, future bastard. “Why would you suggest that?!” I splutter with a glare.

Baekhyun chuckles evilly down at me. “Oh my, you’re not serious, are you?” he says, looking at my friends who don’t say anything.

I also look around and catch Chanyeol’s furious beet red blush and the others’ hard eyes and faces.

“You guys never told Princess the real meaning of oppa? Did you?” Baekhyun asks, looking at my friends who keep silent. “Well, I don’t actually blame her for not understanding considering the fact that she has lived in the UK for the majority of her life…but seriously…this is low guys…”

“Mr Byun.” I interject. “What’s the real meaning of oppa?”

Baekhyun looks down at me. “It’s an endearment you call your male significant other.” He explains. “When you say that you’re basically saying that you’re both in a relationship—”

“But we’re not in a relationship!” I growl with a furious tomato red blush, my fists clenching.

“You might as well be with the amount of times you love to email him, Jongdae and Sehun every fucking day!” Baekhyun says with a scowl, causing my three friends to blush pink.

“How do you know about that?!” I splutter, my blush getting hotter.

“I can see every employees’ emails, Miss Windsor.” He explains with a scowl, running a hand through his bronze hair.

My breath hitches in my throat, remembering when Chanyeol told me that Baekhyun can see everyone’s emails.

_Oh no!_

“Anyway, your lunch is over. So, let’s go.” Mr Byun interrupts, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“No!” I growl, shrugging his hand off me. “I’m not going with you!”

Baekhyun stares at me. “Princess, your lunch is over, and you have work to do.” He says.

“I don’t want to work with you!” I growl. “I’m sick of you controlling and making a fool out of me!”

Baekhyun sighs loudly and glares at me. “Princess, stop making a scene and do as I fucking say—”

“No.” I say firmly, tears stinging the backs of my eyeballs, feeling so utterly embarrassed with my friends’ eyes on me. “I don’t want to come up with you!” I growl, my fists clenching as I stand and rush past him.

I run out of the office and don’t look back, trying to keep my tears in as I wander aimlessly through the hallways, feeling so done with Mr Byun’s actions towards me ever since I started working as his personal assistant.

_Why does he have to be so difficult and why is it so hard to act normal in the future?!_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and that you are having a lovely day!! :) <3333333333  
> I love you all!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!!! More is on the way!!!


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